


Shining Tomorrows

by ComfyDreamer



Series: The World of Territe [2]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Casual, Fantasy, Fluff, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-20
Updated: 2018-08-08
Packaged: 2019-05-26 02:04:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 25,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14990396
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ComfyDreamer/pseuds/ComfyDreamer
Summary: A collection of laid-back shorts depicting the happy life of the Hoshizora family, after the events ofRadiant Swords.Takes place shortly after the epilogue.





	1. Ruins of Alpha

Sunlight streamed through the half-open blinds as Yu Hoshizora yawned and slowly rubbed his eyes. As if to give him an extra incentive to get out of bed, his alarm clock abruptly went off (for the third time), prompting the boy to slam his hand down on the snooze button. Yawning a second time, he lazily rolled over and leisurely stretched out.

In the bed next to him, his sister Kana yawned in response to the sudden noise and groggily shook her head. As her navy eyes scanned the room, her attention was drawn towards the alarm clock that her brother was blocking.

“Hey, Yu? What time is it…”

Yu groaned as he turned over...and found himself face-to-face with a cause for concern.

“Uh...it’s 9:30. We were supposed to get up at 9! We overslept!”

Both children immediately leapt out of bed and rushed into the washroom. After changing out of their grey pajamas and into their standard attires, they brushed their teeth in record time - they didn’t even bother to deal with the absurdly messy hair they had acquired overnight. In just five minutes, the two siblings crashed through the doorway to their kitchen, skidding to a stop in front of their bewildered parents.

“Holy...what are you two up to?” Ken Hoshizora yelped in surprise.

Next to him, Yuki no Hikari laughed. “In a rush, aren’t you?”

Yu panted. “Sorry we’re late! It’s my fault that we overslept!”

His sister Kana just nodded in agreement. “We’re sorry!”

Their parents just smiled. “Hey, kids.” Yuki began, “Don’t worry about it. Ken used to always oversleep when we were younger, so you guys have every right to do so as well. Besides, there’s no way we would leave without you!”

Kana beamed. “Thanks, mom!”

Ken groaned. “Yuki, was that part about me really necessary?”

“Yes!”

Ken sighed, his begrudging smile betraying him.

It had been twenty years since Ken and Yuki, known as the Radiant Swords, had completed the impossible quest given to them by their former Gods. Now that their world had been freed from their influence, the beings known as Nanosapients had quickly gotten accustomed to independant life. Since there were no real threats besides straggling robots that humanity had left behind, Ken and Yuki had mostly retired from combat to start a family together. Now their two kids, Yu and Kana, were their pride and joy. They couldn’t have asked for any better children than those two.

Yuki motioned towards the breakfast table, where two untouched plates of scrambled eggs and bacon lay in wait. Ever since the humans had given them pretty much all of their knowledge, she had been elated to try out some of the new foods that she had learned about. And although this was far from the first time she had cooked that meal, her kids loved it - so she made a point of cooking it often.

As the two kids thanked them and ate, the former adventurers decided to think about all of the things they could do with their kids, especially since  _ they had asked them _ to wake them up early so they could visit their friend Sophia this morning. The lives of the Radiant Swords had been full of excitement and adventure, and they dearly wished for their children to be able to experience the same things that they did - especially since they didn’t have the weight of the divine quest over their heads. But with all the things the pair had done together over the last twenty-ish years...where should they start?

Yu and Kana beamed as they washed their dishes in the sink. “Okay, we’re done!” Yu chirped. “Can we go and see Sophia now?”

Ken laughed. “That fast? You guys really love that dish! Of course we can go, we’re all ready!”

“Yay!” Kana said happily as she hugged her father.

Yuki chuckled at their children’s amicability. She had seen it every day for almost ten years now, but it had never gotten old - and it likely wouldn't ever get old.

 

It was only a half-hour walk to Sophia’s home, situated in the ruins of the titanic Unit Alpha. The gigantic mecha once known as the white titan had served as the girl’s home for the entirety of her formerly isolated life, but had been decimated during the Radiant Swords’ final struggle against the human Michael. But Sophia was optimistic and clever (not to mention a bit lazy), so she had just repaired and expanded her old home within the machine’s wreckage.

As the Hoshizora family approached the titan’s mountainous hand, Yu decided to ask a rather interesting question.

“Hey, mom?”

“What is it, Yu?”

“Apparently, when people get married, sometimes they take on their partner’s last name. So...should we call you Yuki no Hikari, or Yuki Hoshizora?”

Yuki was a bit taken aback. “That’s...an interesting question. I never really thought about it until now. Personally, I don’t care a lot. What do you think sounds better?”

Ken smiled. “I think you should keep your original surname, Yuki. It’s not that big of a deal, so I think still calling you Yuki no Hikari would be nice. Besides, your original name has a kind of sentimental value to it, you know what I mean?”

Yuki laughed cheerily. “Heh, thanks a lot. If you like it, I guess I can keep it. How does that sound, kids?”

“Fine by me!” Kana chirped.

“Same here!” Yu exclaimed.

As the family arrived at their destination, the two children gaped in awe. Even though they had seen the fallen titan quite a few times before, they had still never gotten used to how... _ big _ it was. The tip of its finger was easily large enough to dwarf a large building, and its demolished head stretched several kilometers into the sky.

Standing at the base of the titan’s helmet was none other than Sophia Aurelius herself. Just like her allies from twenty years ago, she didn’t look a lot older than she had when the Radiant Swords had met her on Unit Alpha. She even wore the same outfit that she had worn during that time - a simple silver robe and brown boots.

Beside her, to their surprise, was her father Magnus Aurelius. Magnus also looked a bit older than he had been before - which was no surprise, considering that he was over a hundred years old now. His scarlet robe and eyes completely contrasted his daughter’s appearance, yet besides that it wasn’t too hard to tell that they were related.

As both of them seemed to be engaged in some kind of intense discussion, Ken cleared his throat. “Hey!”

Magnus slowly pivoted on the spot while Sophia whipped around in a panic. At the sight of their guests, both mages broke into cheery grins.

“You surprised me!” Sophia laughed. “Anyways, hi!”

“Greetings!” Magnus said with a bow.

Yuki returned the bow. “We didn’t expect you to be here, Magnus! Last time we heard, you were headed back to Olympus! What brings you here?”

Magnus just smiled. “Sophia had a number of theories that she wanted to discuss with me, so I decided to stop by for a bit. Our repairs are going smoothly, so I can afford to kick back a bit. Besides, I’d never miss an opportunity to have some family time.”

Sophia blushed a bit. “Aw, thanks! Hey, Yu and Kana are here as planned! Hi!”

“Hi, miss Sophia!” Yu chirped.

“Hey there, miss Sophia!” Kana followed.

The two children ran at Sophia and simultaneously gave her flying tackle hugs, almost bowling the poor girl over. As Magnus laughed and their parents gave him sheepish looks, Sophia regained her balance and returned the gesture in kind. “Aw, you guys. Seeing you two always makes me so happy. Sometimes I envy your parents.”

As the two kids broke off, Yuki decided to ask a slightly more important question. “So, in all honesty, I have no idea what you planned with Yu and Kana here. Would you mind telling us what they’ve wanted to do with you?”

Sophia nodded. “Well, they’ve expressed a desire to go explore the ruins of Alpha, and I would like to do so as well.”

“Explore...the ruins of Alpha?” Ken repeated. “Sounds fun! Good thing we brought our weapons and stuff, though. That sounds like it could be a bit dangerous.”

“We can handle it!” Yu and Kana shouted, unanimously and proudly.

Sophia laughed again. “On a slightly related note, I had also whipped up a couple of theoretical applications of magic. This power is still mostly a mystery to us, but I feel like I’m getting closer to unlocking its true power with every passing day. Magnus dropped in to help me do some testing, and I thought it would be cool if you guys could see too.”

Ken and Yuki nodded. When she wasn’t managing her library or entertaining kids, Sophia had devoted a great deal of her time to the study of magic - and her father had been more than happy to lend his expertise. She had even begun trying to find ways to incorporate their magic into the technology that humankind had gifted them.

Magnus cleared his throat. “My daughter’s ideas are really ingenious. I’m pretty sure she got them off of some of those human fiction stories, but she’s been delving into creative ways of using magic that we’ve never thought of - for some reason. Perhaps we deemed them too extreme - but, well, here they are.”

Sophia’s eyes glowed a piercing blue as her body became enveloped in light. To the surprise of the Radiant Swords and their children, she shot straight into the air, stopping to hover some twenty meters above them. She zipped around while spraying azure sparkles from her outstretched hands, sending a brilliant cascade over the stunned onlookers below. Then, with a snap of her fingers, she vanished, instantly appearing before her audience.

Sophia bowed. “How was it?”

All of her witnesses erupted into applause.

“So cool!” Yu and Kana gushed together.

“That was incredible!” Ken and Yuki told her, impressed.

“Nice work!” Magnus replied simply.

Sophia bowed again. “Thank you. I have been experimenting with this kind of stuff for the last week now, but the most interesting thing for me this week was teleportation. It seems that as long as you have enough magic, and you can clearly picture your destination, you can teleport almost any distance. And for some reason, none of the risks involving teleportation that I’ve read about seem to be present - although it seems to take quite a bit of magic to use.”

Magnus nodded. “Yep. She teleported us all the way to Aurora once. Scared the living daylights out of Joseph and Anthony. For now, it really seems like there isn’t a limit to the teleportation, but that’s what my daughter’s experiments are for.”

Yu tentatively raised a hand. “Well...do you think that you could teleport us into Alpha?”

Sophia tilted her head. “Pardon? You two would miss out on so many things to see, then!”

“Yes, but we might have underestimated Alpha’s...hugeness.” Kana continued. “Maybe if you teleported us somewhere inside, then we could explore from there.”

Ken looked at Yuki, who shrugged. “We’re fine with that. Alpha  _ is _ pretty big.”

Sophia seemed deep in thought. “Hmm...yes, that could be doable. I do remember some parts of Alpha’s interior clearly. What I would like is to locate Alpha’s core, so that I could research or maybe even salvage it. I remember a spot in its chest cavity, so we could probably go from there.”

Ken nodded. “Sounds good.”

Yuki nodded as well. “Same.”

The two kids bounced excitedly. “Thanks!”

So, with a wave of Sophia’s hand, the six of them vanished in a flare of blue light.

 

“Hyah!”

Yu and Kana yelled as their magically-charged blades tore through another chunk of debris. As the metal piping found itself carved into several sizzling pieces, the pair unleashed a combined golden beam that blasted a sizzling hole in the metal wall that blocked their way.

As their kids carved a path of smoking destruction through the ruins of the titan, Ken and Yuki watched on in approval. The two children had quickly taken the opportunity to practice their magical talents, having apparently been motivated by Sophia’s grand display earlier. Like their parents, the two of them had been born with a remarkable aptitude for magic, and they were more than willing to take every opportunity to practice it. With the boundless energy and enthusiasm both kids packed, they had plowed their way through any and all debris in their path towards the white titan’s core - and they didn’t even look the slightest bit tired.

Sophia stood back, performing more experiments with her magic. She had recently read about an interesting power that humans had used to talk about, and had recently become obsessed with materializing magical weapons out of thin air. So far, the experiment had been a success - she had managed to summon several glowing swords that she had manipulated to chop through debris. Then Magnus had one-upped her by summoning  _ two dozen _ floating blades that he had remotely controlled to slice a blockade to ribbons.

“Hey, dad?” Yu asked as he tossed aside a bundle of thick wires. “Weren’t there two of these titans?”

“Uh, yeah?” Ken replied. “Why do you ask?”

“Well...what happened to the other one?”

Yuki answered for her husband. “Well, Alpha was the only one that remained kind of intact after Michael tried to kill us all. Omega was completely destroyed. Whatever parts of the titan that survived the ordeal are probably buried within the planet.”

Kana tilted her head. “Wow...and you guys fought alongside Sophia, while she took on Omega using Alpha? And then you fought Michael using Alpha and Omega? I keep forgetting how huge these two are...it must have been so scary!”

“It sure was, Kana.” Ken sighed. “I never want to do that again.”

Yu emitted an excited gasp as he blasted through a final layer of metal, opening the way to a massive chamber. In the center of the space stood a gigantic cylindrical structure at least several kilometers in diameter. A metal frame held what seemed to be glass in place, and countless mechanical parts lay dormant within the machine.

Sophia perked up. “Oh! We’ve reached it!”

Kana stared at it. “That thing is huge! What is it?”

“This is Alpha’s core!” Sophia exclaimed. “Such a gigantic and complex machine needs a massive amount of power to function. So, I wanted to obtain this glorious contraption here - the source of Alpha’s seemingly-unlimited power! Think of everything we could do if we managed to reverse-engineer this stuff!”

As the group stared at in in awe, Kana raised a hand. “Sophia? You can just teleport this out, right? There’s no way we’re carrying that thing.”

The mage nodded. “Of course. But first, let me try something...”

Raising the magi-tech sword she had brought with her, Sophia started pouring her magic into the gigantic machine. “I’ve looked at schematics of this thing. If I trigger the right stimuli in the right place, there’s a chance that Alpha’s core will be reactivated.”

It only took five minutes before the device started glowing a brilliant blue, prompting everyone in the area to take a few steps back. A low hum began to resonate through the area as the core slowly came back to life.

“Success!” Sophia exclaimed.

Yuki gave her a thumbs-up. “Nice job!”

Ken just nodded in response.

Yu and Kana had a shared opinion. “So cool!”

Their festivities were cut off by a sudden tremor that nearly knocked all of them over. As the six of them tried to regain their balance, Sophia paled.

“Hey, Sophia?” Magnus asked uncertainly. “What’s going on?”

Sophia didn’t respond. Quickly and efficiently, she swung her blade and launched several cyan blades at the numerous pipes and wires connecting Alpha’s core to the walls of the chamber. Immediately, the colossal device powered down - but the tremors didn’t stop.

“Wh-what’s going on?” Yu stammered.

Sophia grit her teeth. “My most sincere apologies. I had no idea that some of Alpha’s parts had still maintained functionality after the titan’s defeat. Fortunately, I disabled the core before any real problems could arise. However…”

Sophia was cut off by the deafening sound of scraping metal. 

Yuki yelped as she pointed upwards, her rapidly waving finger aimed at a massive pile of debris that was slowly sliding into the chamber. Magnus instinctively raised his staff and unleashed a massive flare that completely disintegrated the debris, only for the resulting shockwave to send another cascade of metal hurtling their way. Magnus withheld a curse while Yu chopped up some of the falling debris. Kana and her parents fired magic missiles into the metal wave, but more debris kept coming.

“This is bad!” Magnus shouted. “Sophia, get us out of here!”

Sophia raised her sword and grit her teeth. “On it. I’ll have to teleport us all out of here, core included.”

“You’re taking the core too?” Yuki asked incredulously.

Sophia nodded. “I’ll abandon it if I need to, but otherwise I still want it for my research.”

Raising her sword, Sophia prepared the teleportation - and to the surprise of all six of them, it went off without a hitch. In a flash of blue light, the six of them and the titanic machine that they had came for vanished, just as a mountain of metal scrap came crashing down on the place they had been just seconds before.

 

Back outside of Alpha’s head, Sophia and the others materialized out of thin air and unsteadily landed on the ground. Yu and Kana yelped as Alpha’s core materialized next to them, the gigantic device crashing to the ground with an earth-shaking boom.

Ken breathed heavily while Yuki trembled. “That...was too close.”

Sophia panted heavily and hung her head in shame. “I...didn’t expect something like that to happen. I’m very sorry for putting all of you in danger.”

“It’s okay, Sophia.” Ken offered. “Don’t beat yourself up over it.”

Magnus nodded. “Everyone makes mistakes.”

Yu and Kana were seated under a tree, breathing heavily. Noticing them, Yuki walked over and knelt down to their eye level. “You okay, you two? You can tell me if something’s wrong. You have every right to be scared.”

Yu nodded and looked up at his mother. “Yeah. That was really scary. All of us could’ve have died if miss Sophia hadn’t saved us all.”

“I won’t try to deny that.” Yuki replied, “But Sophia is a very skilled mage. It was unlikely that any of us were in any danger during that ordeal.”

“I...suppose,” Kana continued, “She’s really strong. But it was a real shame to leave so early. I feel like we could have kept exploring Alpha’s ruins even longer.”

Sophia cleared her throat. “That’s improbable as of now. I’d rather we wait for the debris to settle down a bit first. However, since I accidentally ruined your exploration, how about you guys come over to my place to play for a bit?”

Kana’s eyes lit up. “Really? Sure, I’d love to!”

Yu nodded vigorously before looking at his parents. “Can we? Please?”

Ken shrugged. “I see no problem with that.”

Yuki shared his opinion. “Of course you can!”

The two kids squealed in delight as Sophia smiled in response. Turning around, she began leading the children to the elevator that led to her home. “I recently managed to replicate a couple more of the video games that the humans used to play. I was wondering if you two would be interested in trying them.”

The siblings nodded excitedly. “Of course! We would love to play more of your games!”

Sophia laughed. “I will warn you, though. Back when the humans used to play this game, it had a reputation for ruining friendships! Can you believe it?”

Yu scoffed. “This game thinks it can ruin our friendships? Not a chance! Our friendships are stronger than what any game could do to us!”

“Yeah!” Kana yelled as if to challenge the game.

The Radiant Swords just laughed as Magnus smiled in approval. Watching their kids so dedicated to their friendships at such a young age was a good sign.

Soon, however, the three of them left to join the others in their play session. In all honesty, they wanted to see what new game Sophia had cooked up as well - and maybe take the opportunity to eat and refresh.

 

_ The Hoshizora siblings might have misinterpreted “play for a bit”. Apparently, to them Sophia’s words had meant “sleep over at my place for the night”, because that’s what ended up happening. _

_ Unit Alpha’s core remained untouched and forgotten overnight. _


	2. Boundless Horizons

Ken sat at the breakfast table, carefully examining his blade. The sturdy broadsword had held remarkably well throughout the years - probably due to its magical nature - but he was so attached to his weapon that he still checked it for damage every now and then. Yuki had told him that he was a good enough blacksmith to make that kind of checking unnecessary, but he still insisted. She had deemed that to be pointless, but Ken had caught her checking her sword several times. It was clear that her blade meant a lot to her as well.

Just as he finished his examination, Yu and Kana burst through the door. The two kids were panting heavily, but had huge grins plastered on their faces.

“Hey, kids.” Ken said, addressing his children. “What’s with the rush?”

Yu seemed to collect his racing thoughts before opening his mouth. “Ken! Ken! Magnus found something really cool! Come and see! Get mom too!”

Yuki took the moment to walk into the dining room. “Huh? I heard some commotion going on here...what’s happening?”

Yu repeated the exact words he had said before, but with even more enthusiasm.

Yuki’s eyes glimmered. “Really? Of course we’ll go and see! If Magnus says it’s interesting, it probably is.”

“My thoughts exactly.” Ken added.

With overflowing energy, the two children took their parents by the hands and dragged them out the door. The four of them ran all the way to the forested outskirts of the town, where the Magnum leader indeed awaited them.

“Greetings!” Magnus said with a bow.

Ken and Yuki panted while Yu and Kana bounced excitedly. As Ken caught his breath, Yuki decided to ask the obvious. “Hey, Magnus. So, what is it that you found?”

Magnus smiled before waving his hand, causing a creature to materialize behind him. The giant avian that now shuffled behind Magnus had lustrous bronze feathers, keen eyes, and two familiar looking bags strapped to it.

Yuki’s eyes widened. “No way!”

Magnus laughed. “Don’t you recognize your old friend? This is the same Griff that you completed your quest with! It had somehow survived the calamity that befell Electi Terram, and we just happened to find it and nurse it back to health.”

Ken laughed like a child again as he ran over to give his old companion a hug. The Griff that had become known as Bud during their travels apparently recognized his old masters, because Bud squawked with glee and practically ran straight into Ken, nuzzling him affectionately. It didn’t take long for Yuki to join in on the reunion.

Their kids watched on in excitement and glee, and Kana soon found the voice to express her opinion. “Aww, he’s so cute! You guys traveled on him? It must have been so cool to fly above the clouds!”

Ken grinned. “It sure was! Flying scared the hell out of Yuki, though.”

Yuki squeaked in protest, before conceding the point. “Uh...yeah.”

However, the Light of Courage suddenly got an idea. “...Hey,” she asked her kids slowly, “You said it sounded cool to fly, right?”

“Uh...yeah?” Yu tentatively replied.

Ken smiled knowingly as he foresaw where this was headed.

Yuki gave the siblings a smile. “Well...what would you say if we took you on a little trip above the clouds today?”

Yu exploded with glee. “Really? Yes! I’d love to!”

Kana had a similar emotional outburst. “You’d really do that for us?”

“Well, of course I would!” Yuki exclaimed. “I’m not too scared of flying anymore. And if it makes you two happy, then I’d be more than willing to fly again!”

Ken laughed. “She’s right. We know firsthand what it’s like to soar above the clouds, at heights Nanos never intended to fly at. As our children...well, I suppose you deserve that experience too, right?”

The two ecstatic kids couldn’t hold back any longer, rushing at their parents and giving both of them flying tackle hugs. The family laughed together as Bud watched on, not understanding what was going on but happy regardless.

Magnus smiled warmly. Sophia was an amazing daughter, but Magnus had missed the opportunity to parent her when she was the same age as the children of the Radiant Swords. While he appreciated the level of maturity she showed, and while she was also very amicable at times, he wondered if she would have been as energetic as these two kids at their age if he had raised her properly.

However, Magnus soon prepared to teleport back to his home, if only for a little bit. He was sure that the happy family would appreciate it if he lent them some of the Magnum’s own Griffs, so that they could each fly one instead of having to share. It hadn’t been too long since he flew a Griff, and he had already begun to long for the experience again. However, today was not the day for that. He had some issues to take care of, concerning Olympus’ repairs.

How it would be nice to be young again.

 

“Whoa! Waaah!”

“Agh! Don’t fall, don’t fall!”

The children of the Radiant Swords screamed hysterically as their Griffs shot through the air. While they had picked up flying quite quickly, it was still a brand new experience to be flying in the air like birds, and as such they were still quite frightened. Despite the fact that their magic or the magic of their parents could have easily mitigated any accidents, they still found it necessary to exercise their vocal chords.

Flying beside them with considerably more stability, the Radiant Swords simply chuckled. After a short debate, Ken ended up riding Bud himself while Yuki flew one of the Griffs that Magnus had brought over from Atlas. Watching their kids learn to fly brought back memories of their youth, when the two of them had been trying to do the same. Fortunately for them, Ken had picked it up quite quickly.

Kana screamed as she managed to regain stability of her Griff, and Yu flew in circles until he leveled out a bit. The two children looked at their parents for approval, and the Radiant Swords flashed them thumbs-up signs in response.

Without further ado, the two children commanded their mounts to shoot straight into the clouds shrouding the sky. Both of them shuddered as they felt all the effects of ascending so quickly: the thinning air, the growing chill, the feeling of clouds flying into their faces, and the like. But it was only a mere minute later that they breached the cloud layer and had their breaths taken away.

“...Wow.”

The kids had never seen something so magnificent in their entire lives. Shining before them was the awe-inducing sight of the setting sun casting a fiery orange glow over the thick layer of clouds that lay beneath them. The puffy, glowing formations stretched endlessly into the horizon, almost like snowy mountain ranges.

As the two children gaped in awestruck silence, the Radiant Swords stopped to a hover beside them. Ken just took a deep breath of the high-altitude air while Yuki gazed around at the cloudy landscape laid before their eyes.

Kana was in a state of blissful shock. “It’s...so beautiful.”

“I’ve never seen something so pretty...” Yu breathed.

Their mother smiled and patted them on their heads. “You’ve got that right. Both me and Ken must have passed on our appreciation for nature, because we used to constantly marvel at the world’s natural beauties when we were on the quest. Seeing things as nice as this really make me grateful for the world we’ve been given.”

Yu beamed. “Of course we’re grateful! I wouldn’t trade this world for any other! Not even any of the worlds that I read about in Sophia’s books!”

Kana laughed. “This world is too pretty to give up. We’re grateful for it, all right!”

Yuki sighed happily. “Good to hear, kids.”

Ken hovered over and gently nudged Yuki with his elbow. “Uh, Yuki?”

Yuki turned towards where he was pointing, only for her jaw to drop.

“Holy...that can’t possibly be what I think it is!”

Soaring in front of them was a gigantic bird that glittered with multicolored light, letting off iridescent showers of light that could only have been rivaled by a full night sky. As the creature let out a triumphant-sounding screech, Ken and Yuki slowly turned towards each other, wide grins slowly growing on their faces.

Yu pointed excitedly. “Kana! Look! Look! It’s the Prismatic Phoenix from the stories! It’s real!”

Kana gaped at it. “Of course it’s real! Mom and dad told us about it, after all. But still...that thing is so pretty! Mom, dad, you actually saw that bird during your quest?”

“We sure did, Kana.” Ken breathed. “And I never thought I’d get the chance to see the Prismatic Phoenix a second time. Heh, that reminds me - last time we saw it, Yuki was trying to shoot it down and cook it…”

He trailed off as he found out that his wife was no longer beside him.

Yuki whooped in excitement as she spurred her Griff towards the polychromatic avian. Once she drew within about fifty meters of it, she drew her katana, which began crackling with pale blue light. Yuki’s eyes lit up as she swung the blade in a wide arc, unleashing a barrage of azure sawblades that tore through the air before curving towards their target. As the bird screeched and began attempting evasive maneuvers, Ken just sighed. “Yuki, you’re _really_ determined to cook that bird, aren’t you?”

Yuki laughed. “Of course I am! What are you three waiting for? Come over here and help me take down this bird!”

Ken shook his head, but couldn’t hide the growing smile on his face.

“Well,” Kana added hesitantly, “I _would_ like to see what it tastes like…”

 

So within the span of ten seconds, the three remaining Griffs split up and began circling the avian. Ken drew his broadsword, which began glowing with a fiery blaze. Yu and Kana unsheathed their weapons, determined to make their parents proud.

With a shout from Yuki, the four of them raised their weapons and attacked. Yuki unleashed a wave of tracking golden arrows while Ken created a huge sphere of heat and launched it at his target. Yu and Kana swung their blades and created huge gusts of slicing wind to throw the bird off course.

The Prismatic Phoenix let out another multi-toned shriek as it shot through the air, nimbly avoiding the explosive fireball that Ken shot at it. Ducking and rolling to avoid being hit by Yuki’s arrow bombardment, the Phoenix was suddenly knocked off course by the two children’s wind attack, causing it to take a faceful of golden arrows.

Just as the Radiant Swords’ children were high-fiving one another, the Phoenix emerged from the explosion and screeched, materializing innumerable orbs of iridescent flame that shot towards them. Kana yelped in alarm as Yu flew in front of her, generating a lens-shaped barrier that blocked the fiery barrage. Yuki swerved to avoid the retaliation, and Ken shot the blasts out of the air with his magic.

Noticing Yuki, the Phoenix inhaled and spat an enormous gout of rainbow-colored flames at her. The girl yelped and unleashed a green beam in response, which struck the incoming attack and caused it to explode.

Just as the Phoenix was about to unload another wave of fiery death, Ken swooped in front of her and deployed a barrier that deflected the subsequent barrage of fire before charging at the Phoenix, blade crackling with lightning. Raising his sword, he sent several thunderbolts hurtling at the creature, which shocked it and seemingly slowed it down.

While their parents were engaging in a dogfight with the avian, Yu and Kana maintained their position while observing the Phoenix’s attacks. Both of them sorely wanted to help their parents out, but weren’t exactly sure on what they needed to do. So, after a bit of discussion, they decided to go for the “reckless and idiotic” option.

Ken was weaving in between fireballs and launching bursts of electricity when Kana flew above them and went in for a terrifyingly fast dive-bomb on the Prismatic Phoenix. Raising her katana, she became enveloped in a crackling field of blue energy as she slammed straight into the Phoenix, sending both her and the bird spiralling downwards in an uncontrollable dive. The bird shrieked and shot iridescent flares from all over its body, one of which struck Kana’s barrier and actually helped knock her flight back into stability.

Just as the bird was about to regain its bearings as well, there was a half-joyous-half-frightened scream from above as Yu jumped off his Griff and hurtled towards the Phoenix. When the avian turned around to find out what the commotion was about, Yu slammed into the Phoenix, drove his sword into its left wing, and forced a devastating electric shock through its body. The creature shrieked in pain as it flailed around and finally went limp, its body plummeting to the earth.

As the bird fell, Yu pulled his sword out of its wing and leapt backwards off the falling creature. He tumbled around in the air for a few seconds before Kana swooped in and caught him with her Griff. Yu flashed his sister a thumbs-up as his own Griff flew over for him to jump back onto.

“Haha! That was so flashy!” Kana praised her brother.

“Heh, thanks!” a mildly drained Yu replied sheepishly.

As the two children high-fived each other and laughed, both of them spotted their parents flying towards them. The Radiant Swords shared expressions that sent a clear message: _I can’t believe you two just did that._

The kids groaned as they realized that they might have just made a mistake.

 

_Oddly enough, Ken and Yuki were fairly lax about the stunt that their kids had just pulled. Once the siblings explained that they weren’t in any real danger, using their hastily-fabricated contingency plans as proof, the Radiant Swords stopped worrying and congratulated their kids on their daring maneuver instead._

_Tracking the fallen Phoenix, Yuki made good on her promise and extracted its core before cooking its body. After a lengthy thought process of deciding how to prepare the mythical beast, she finally settled on a way to serve it to her family._

_Needless to say, the Phoenix’s meat was easily the best tasting meat that the Hoshizora family had ever tasted. An individual with less morals than Yuki would have left the Phoenix to regenerate before butchering it again, but Yuki believed that the creature deserved to fly free once more. So, she let it regenerate and fly away._

_It was surely an experience that the four of them would never forget. Especially for the two children who had so recklessly taken the bird down in the first place - they felt like they had really earned that meal._


	3. The Silver City

Standing at the entrance to Aurora, Anthony Miller gave his visitors an enthusiastic salute. “Welcome! It’s been a bit since I saw your faces around here!

Yu and Kana nodded happily as their parents stood behind them. The Radiant Swords had decided to take their kids to Aurora for the day, since they were already scheduled to go help Joseph with some of his innovations. It had been years since the children had visited Aurora - Ken and Yuki had mostly gotten someone like Sophia or Mitama to take care of them whenever they had to go help out at the city. But now that they were older, the Radiant Swords felt that their children were more than mature enough to accompany them.

Noticing their excitement, Anthony turned his attention to the two children, both of whom he had never actually met formally. “Oh, hey there! It’s been so long since I last saw you two!”

Yu beamed. “Hi, mister Anthony! That must have been a really long time ago, because I can’t really remember if we met before. Don’t worry, though! I know all about you since mom and dad keep telling us about how awesome you are!”

Anthony raised an eyebrow at the Radiant Swords. “Is that so?”

Yuki shrugged. “Guilty.”

Kana just laughed. “Don’t worry, though! I’m sure we’ll become great friends!”

The Auroran defense general gave his cohorts another questioning look. “Are these two always this sweet?”

Yuki smiled again. “You should probably get used to it.”

 

Without much further ado, Anthony led the four of them into the heart of the bustling city, where Joseph awaited them. The Auroran leader had a jovial welcome for his old friends, and an equally cheerful greeting for their young children. After a moment of talk (which evidently made the two kids kind of bored), the Radiant Swords left with him and Anthony to take care of important matters.

“We’ll be back in just over an hour.” Ken had told their kids. “So you two can play around. Have fun, and take care!”

The kids waved to their parents enthusiastically before finding a tree and sitting down at its base. Not in a mood to come up with fun ideas, both of them just stretched out in the shade and relaxed.

But as children sometimes did, the two of them eventually got bored.

“So,” Yu asked his sister, “What now?”

Kana shrugged, promptly putting an end to the conversation.

The two of them just sat there for the next five minutes, until Yu heard a scream from his left. Turning his head to address the source of the noise, he saw what appeared to be a couple shouting and pointing at a sewer grate. Deducing that they must have dropped something into it by accident, Yu immediately knew what he had to do. He nudged his observing sister, who promptly nodded.

As the couple was wondering how to get the husband’s phone out of the sewer, they almost failed to notice the two small children walk up to the grate and stare down into the murky darkness. Reaching out his hand, Yu’s eyes glowed blue as he used his magic to scan the bottom of the sewer for any objects of interest, only to find none. Sighing, he flashed a look at Kana, who almost immediately got what he was about to do.

Drawing her sword, Kana projected a faintly glowing field of magic around her brother, who fearlessly lifted the sewer grate and leapt inside. As Kana’s magic kept him afloat just above the surface of the murky waters below, Yu performed a more thorough scan of the sewer system now that he had a better visual. Sure enough, he detected an object of interest - what appeared to be one of those “cell phones” that his parents had told him about. Using magic to draw it out of the sludge, he floated in place while using his power to both clean and sanitize the device as much as he could before pressing a couple buttons to ensure that it still worked. Once that was done, he shot a green flare out the top of the shaft, prompting Kana to yank him out.

In front of the newly-gathered crowd of onlookers, Yu shot out of the sewer and stumbled to a hasty landing on the pavement. Taking a breath of the fresher air, he closed the sewer grate behind him and offered the phone to the stunned couple, who hesitantly took it.

Silence for a few seconds.

Then, suddenly, the entire crowd erupted into applause before running at the startled children to praise them, who initially backed up in surprise. However, they soon recovered and started taking the praise in stride.

“Thank you so much!” the man who had dropped his phone told them. “That was real nice of you to just jump in like that! You two don’t even know us!”

Yu scratched his head sheepishly. “It’s our duty to help those in need, after all. Also, well, we were bored.”

The man’s wife suddenly seemed to remember something. “Hey, no wonder why you two seemed so familiar. You’re the children of the Radiant Swords, right?”

“Yes!” was the simultaneous response.

A fair portion of the crowd gasped as the woman broke into a wide grin. “Ha, I knew it! Back when your parents visited this place on their quest, they looked almost exactly like you two!”

The siblings were ecstatic. Well, they supposed that they  _ were  _ wearing identical clothes to their parents as usual, but they let it slide. To them, being compared to their beloved parents was a reason to rejoice.

A girl piped up. “Yeah, I was there too! You two really look just like them, except smaller and cuter!”

“Y-you really think so?” Kana asked. “Thank you!”

That brought up a random thought in the siblings’ minds. If they were being totally honest, the siblings didn’t really get how their species aged. The age of which one’s body and mind matured seemed to be different for individual Nanos, and neither of them really understood it. From all the recounts they had heard, their parents had been quite a bit more mature than them at that age - especially mentally.

Before they had any chance to think about that for any longer, a teenage boy raised his hand. “Wait, but why  _ are _ you carrying those weapons around at all times? Most of the surviving Mechanoids have been wiped out, so there’s no real danger. Hell, we don't even carry our guns around anymore!”

Yu just laughed as if that were an obvious question. “Well, our magic needs a conduit to function at maximum power. And our conduits are our blades. So whenever we need to use our magic for anything, it’s best to have our conduits on hand.”

The boy nodded. “I see.”

A younger boy piped up. “Hey! You know how your parents had a cool title? Well...do you have one too?”

Kana tilted her head. “What do you mean?”

“Well, your parents are collectively known as the Radiant Swords. Do you two have something like that going on?”

Kana shook her head. “No, we do not. It sounds cool, though.”

Yu was thinking. “Hmm...you know what, sis? We should have one too!”

“...Yeah! That would be really cool!” Kana chirped happily.

The man from before chuckled. “So, what are you two going to choose?”

Yu thought hard before shrugging. “Uh...I have no idea. Why don’t you guys help us come up with one?”

“W-what?”

Kana beamed. “Yeah! You Aurorans can give us ideas!”

The man, shocked that they were being given the responsibility, slowly backed into the crowd, which quickly turned into a hushed discussion. The two siblings eagerly waited their response as the Aurorans brainstormed fervently.

Five minutes passed, and the crowd had come to a conclusion. As they saw the Aurorans turn towards them, the two children eagerly jostled in place.

“...How about the Nebulous Angels?”

Kana tilted her head. “Pardon?”

“That’s an idea for a title we came up with!”

Yu gave it a thought before smiling. “That sounds really cool! But why did you choose that name? Does it mean something?”

The man from before scratched his head. “Well...I’m a real sucker for astronomy. Since your parents are the Radiant Swords, I guess they can also be described as stars. And if they’re stars, that means you two are stars in the making - in other words, nebulae.”

“...And the angel part of it?”

The man’s wife smiled. “Well, you two are really sweet kids, so I suppose that angels would be an appropriate title. Besides, that’s what your parents tell us you are whenever they come here alone!”

For the two kids, this was fantastic news. Their parents had called them angels?

Kana’s face flushed red. “O-our parents said that...about us?” she stammered awkwardly.

“Ha...haha! This is the best!” Yu shouted happily, bouncing around energetically.

After a period of ecstatic happiness, the two of them turned towards the Aurorans again. Kana spoke up: “We’d love to take that title.”

The man was taken aback. “Really?”

“Yes!” was the simultaneous answer. “It sounds really cool!”

The crowd seemed pleased with the outcome. “Well,” the man went on, “I guess you two have your new titles, then!”

The newly-christened Nebulous Angels beamed and high-fived each other, before doing the same to the Aurorans. The city folk were very much taken aback by the energy of these two kids - not that it was a bad thing, of course.

As the two kids laughed, a young man stepped forward. “Um...I have a request to make, if that’s not too much.”

Kana turned her focus to him eagerly. “Really? Ask away!”

“...Well, all those years ago, I remember asking your parents to spar, so that we could see their skills in action. Er...if you guys are okay with it, could I see you two have a duel, as well?”

The two kids looked at each other and smiled knowingly.

 

“Hyah!”

“Take this!”

As the crowd nodded in approval and awe, Yu and Kana leapt around the center of the park, blades drawn and gleaming with power. For two kids as young as they were, they already seemed to fight better than all of the swordfighters the Aurorans had seen on TV. Surely their parents had trained them well.

Yu swung his blade at Kana, who hastily blocked it with her own thinner sword. As Yu lunged again, Kana used magic to leap out of the way, landing on a tree. She assessed her situation, only for Yu to swing his sword and launch a wave of glowing blades at her. Leaping off the tree, Kana used magic to propel herself down at her brother, sword poised to strike. Yu raised his sword and somehow blocked the tip of her katana with the edge of his own sword, sending them both skidding backwards.

Never one to stay down for long, Kana rushed at him and began slashing rapidly, trying to find a chink in his defenses or alternatively displace his weapon outright. Despite not outwardly showing it, he was having quite a bit of difficulty fending off his sister’s attacks. Yu was hoping that he could find a way to counterattack soon.

Kana realized that what she was doing wasn’t going to work within a reasonable amount of time, so she broke off from attacking and began running in a loop around Yu. Raising her sword, she repeatedly slashed the air, sending spears of light hurtling towards her brother. Yu raised a shield to block them before retaliating with his own burst of lightning. Nimbly leaping over the forks of crackling power, Kana tensed and launched herself straight at Yu, engaging him in a blade lock.

Apparently the two of them were subconsciously thinking of the same thing at that moment - their newly acquired titles of Nebulous Angels. If not, there was little to no explanation of what happened next.

As the siblings’ eyes blazed with azure light, the crowd gasped in unison as bright streams of magic began flowing out of their backs. Within a few short seconds, the flickering wisps condensed into pairs of glowing wings that extended out of each of the Nebulous Angels’ backs. The Aurorans had never seen anything quite like it before - the wings of these two children looked like they were woven from the cosmos themselves, each pair containing vistas of cosmic beauty within them. Both sets of wings - Yu’s indigo wings and Kana’s dark purple ones - looked like open windows to vast, glimmering starfields.

The crowd was in awe.  _ Nebulous Angels, indeed. _

The children either didn’t notice or didn’t care, their focus absolutely devoted to their sparring match. Yu pushed hard on his blade, and Kana pushed back just as hard.

Kana grit her teeth. “You ready to give up yet?”

Yu laughed. “Ha! Not a chance!”

Kana pulled out of the blade lock, only for Yu to use his newly-formed wings to launch himself into the air. Spiralling upwards, Yu’s blade exploded with violet light as he dived straight at his sister, who launched herself up to meet his attack. About fifteen meters off the ground, the two children clashed, their magically-charged attacks emanating shockwaves that blew the grass flat.

After a short-lived aerial duel, the crowd stepped back as the Nebulous Angels crashed into the ground, rolling to a stop under a tree. Never ones to let their guard down for too long, both of them jumped to their feet and brandished their swords again.

“Just give up!” Kana panted. “You can’t do this forever!”

Yu gasped for breath. “Heh...never. I won’t yield!”

“Hey!” came a familiar voice. “You two, what’s going on here?”

The children whipped around to find themselves face-to-face with an inquisitive Yuki and a flabbergasted Ken.

_ Uh-oh. _

“M-mom!” Kana stammered, hastily sheathing her sword. “What are you doing here? I-I didn’t know you were coming so soon!”

“We’re actually ten minutes late, Kana.”

“I-I swear that we weren’t doing anything bad!” Yu sputtered as he fumbled with his own weapon. “These nice people wanted to see us duel, t-that’s all! W-we were just playing, I promise!”

“Kids, calm down.” Yuki told them gently. “We’re not mad. We’re just curious, that’s all. In fact, we watched a bit of your show. You guys did great!”

“R-really? You mean that?” Kana stuttered. “Thank you so much!”

Yu was more direct, simply leaping at his mother and giving her a hug. “Thanks so much! Also, did you know we have a title now? We’re called the Nebulous Angels!”

Yuki smiled. “Really now? That’s very cool!”

Ken, however, was still gaping. “How come you two have  _ wings?” _

The Nebulous Angels slowly looked behind them, their celestial wings fluttering. In unison, they willed them to dissipate into light as Yu spoke up. “Uh...I have no idea myself. I guess we were excited? Or we just thought they suited our new titles? Anyways, they're really cool! They even fly like real wings!”

Ken laughed. “Sounds reasonable. The realm of magic is still mostly unknown, and it can do a lot of things that not even we know of. In fact, someone once told me “magic is everything”, but I think that’s a bit of a stretch. But anyways, at least I think those wings suit you two really well!”

The happy response was unanimous. “Thanks, dad!”

“Well, we’re done with Joseph’s stuff for now.” Yuki interjected. “So we can go get some lunch. Ken helped us find a great restaurant nearby. Want to go check it out?”

“Sure! We’d love to!”

Ken smiled and ruffled his children’s hair. “Come on, you two. Let’s go get something to eat.”

And as the happy family walked off into the city, the crowd of Aurorans were left in the dust with an odd feeling of awe and lightheartedness.

  
  


Along the way, Ken and Yuki showed their children around the city of Aurora. The kids marveled at everything - the advanced technology and transportation, the gigantic skyscrapers, even basic things like street vendors. Using the knowledge gifted to them by humanity, the city of Aurora hoped to capitalize on the successes of modernization, while avoiding the detriments as much as possible. So far, they were doing a good job - for one thing, the environment had been preserved remarkably well despite the constant expansion and urbanization the city was undergoing.

But before they left for lunch, Yu spotted a booth that was providing a demo for some new fighting game that had just been released. When the kids had tried the demo, they had attracted quite a few people asking the Radiant Swords if the siblings were okay - and for pretty good reason, too. Yu and Kana were so into the game, so determined to best one another, that their eyes had been glowing like miniature suns.

Yet despite how much they had enjoyed it, the siblings passed up on the opportunity to get it. In a world where nothing had a price attached to it, it was important to only take the things you really needed. To the kids, a video game wasn’t one of them.

Walking through a grove of trees to a train station, the family took a train to a floating plaza that lay a few kilometers outwards of the shore. Ken had studied the technology behind them ever since he had found out that they existed, but he was still amazed at how fast they were. Yu and Kana were in awe for the whole ride, treating it more like an amusement than a type of transportation.

Yu had loved technology like this ever since his parents had told him about it, and now he closed his eyes serenely as he gestured dramatically. “I love the feeling of riding such a fast train. The sound of countless tons of metal and electronics working together to propel us at previously unheard speeds, the monotonous whine of engines utilizing the pinnacle of our technology...all this power, just so we can go eat some lunch!”

Kana laughed. “Yu, you’re being overly dramatic again! Besides, what do you mean by the sounds of countless tons of metal? This one doesn’t even have wheels, it works using magnetic levitation! ”

“Hey, you don’t have to ruin my moment, you know!”

Every passenger within two seats of them instinctively edged away from them as sparks flew from the eyes of the two kids. Fortunately, Ken and Yuki defused the situation quickly and then shrugged it off.

When they arrived at the glass complex, they took an elevator up to the highest floor. Yu and Kana, who had never seen an elevator in their lives, were practically glowing from excitement. Once they got to the top floor, all of them piled into a restaurant and got a table. Being the eager children that they were, Yu and Kana couldn’t decide what to eat until Ken suggested that they ordered pasta. Not wanting to think any longer, they promptly took the option.

As the two kids dug into their pasta, which arrived five minutes later, the Radiant Swords took the time to share their sandwiches and gaze upon the ocean. Despite Electi Terram also being located by the ocean, Aurora was the only place that had buildings tall enough to look upon it at this angle. Seeing the sunlight glistening off the gently rolling waves, the pair remembered the incredible joy and awe they had felt when they had seen the ocean for the first time in their lives.

Yuki smiled. “Ah...this really does remind me of when we first arrived in Aurora. It was all because I wanted to chase that tiny animal, remember?”

Ken just laughed. “How could I forget? Neither of us could catch it, but then Anthony blew it up by accident. Yeah, those were good times, for sure.”

Yuki gently took his hand. “You said it. Even though you  _ did _ get your leg flattened, and  _ I  _ had to stay up all night to restore it...”

“Hey!” Ken protested.

Yu and Kana stopped eating for a bit to listen to their mother’s stories.

Yuki noticed and intentionally went on. “...Or how you had rolled off the bed that morning and still hadn’t woken up-”

She was cut off abruptly as Ken unceremoniously shoved their last sandwich into her mouth to shut her up. Yuki’s eyes widened as she shouted several muffled complaints and what were likely several angry threats, but it was obvious by her expression that she was trying to hold back laughter as well. Ken just smirked as Yuki ate the sandwich as quickly as safely possible and glared at him, only to burst out laughing. Ken, expecting as much, burst into laughter as well.

Their moment was, however, soon cut off by a tug at Ken’s sleeve from his daughter.

“Dad?”

Ken turned towards her. “Hm, Kana? What is it?”

“...I’m too full to eat the rest of this.”

Ken’s eyes were drawn towards Kana’s plate of spaghetti, which had about a quarter of it left. Admittedly, the plate  _ was _ pretty big, and Kana never said she was full unless she actually was. However, none of them wanted to let the food go to waste.

Before Ken could do anything, however, Yu’s hand shot up. “Oh! I could help Kana eat it! I’m not full yet!”

Yuki raised an eyebrow at his empty plate. “You sure? You’ve already eaten a lot, and I don’t want you to push yourself…”

“Nah! I can eat some more, there’s not a lot left!”

“Thanks a lot, big bro.” Kana told her brother gratefully as he took her plate.

True to his word, Yu ate the remainder of the pasta without any problems. The boy’s appetite wasn’t something to be underestimated.

Once the family finished, they thanked the cooks and went back to the ground floor to take the train back to Aurora. When they arrived, the Radiant Swords offered to take their children around the city some more - and turns out, Joseph had just the thing in mind for them.

 

_ Turns out that Joseph’s idea of a “fun thing to do” was to take the family to their testing range and show the kids what their weapons were like. The Nebulous Angels had never heard of “guns” or “artillery” in their lives, and were eager to check out everything that the Auroran military had to offer. Much to Anthony’s chagrin, Joseph badgered him into explaining their weapons to the kids - something that was easier said than done, due to their seemingly limitless energy and curiosity. _

_ At Yu’s request, Joseph actually allowed them to test out some of their weapons. Normally, this would be considered stupid, but things like “risks of people getting shot” tended to go out the window when all parties involved had nigh-complete trust in each other. _

_ Yu and Kana were responsible kids, fortunately, and nobody got hurt. The Nebulous Angels picked up the weapons very quickly and were soon able to hit the targets on the shooting range. They even test-fired some newer weapons on the wreckage of the gigantic machine once known as the Juggernaut - which, to the Radiant Swords’ chagrin, had been made into a monument of sorts. _

_ Despite having a lot of fun with the high-tech weaponry,  however, Yu and Kana still stated that they liked their traditional weaponry better, just like their parents. _

_ But as minutes became hours, the family soon had to depart for home. Anthony offered to give them a plane ride back, since he was still practicing flying. As the jet shot off towards Electi Terram, it gave the family a wondrous view of what a city looked like at night. With all of the brightly-lit, silver skyscrapers reaching towards the sky like metallic trees, it was almost like the land itself was trying to mirror the star-spangled skies above. _

_ It was an interesting thought, really. The Hoshizora family had read countless stories about how technology would cause harm and destruction. And in the wrong hands, that was definitely true. _

_ Yet it was undoubted that it could also be wonderful if used right. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was kind of inspired by a recent trip to Chicago that I went on. Despite the...interesting things going on in America right now, visiting the city was quite the experience. Who knew that such a busy city could be so green?


	4. Frigid Ascent

The Nebulous Angels shivered in the morning cold and clung to their parents for warmth. Wrapping their arms around their children, the Radiant Swords shielded them from the chilling winds that now blew around them while they judged the task at hand - the imposing mountain that stood before them.

Why were they out on such a cold morning? Well, after some suggestions from their friend Sophia, the Hoshizora siblings had become interested in going on an expedition of sorts. They had wanted to climb one of the many mountains around the village of Eulogia before camping at the summit for a bit, and their parents thought that it was a pretty interesting proposal. So here they were, standing at the base of one of said mountains - but despite their hours of preparation, the dawn was still very cold.

Yu hugged his father tighter. “I-it’s so c-cold! Y-you two went h-here, right?”

Ken was shivering a bit too, but he managed a smile for his beloved son. “We sure did, Yu. It wasn’t so bad, really. If you just imagine your magic forming a warm blanket of sorts around you, you’ll be warm in no time.”

Hesitantly, Yu and Kana did just that, only to gasp as they found that it actually worked.

“...Wow! Thanks, dad!” Kana chirped.

Ken laughed and ruffled his daughter’s hair as Yuki scanned the area. There was a dimly lit cabin a few dozen meters away, indicating that someone might have taken up residence here. And sure enough, after a bit of surveying, Yuki spotted a burly man push his way through a thicket of conifers. He was clearly dressed for the weather, wearing thick brown winter clothes - unlike the Hoshizora family, who wore their standard clothing as usual.

The man noticed the family and waved. “Hey there! Visitors, huh? You’ve chosen quite the place to visit, if I say so myself.”

Ken squinted at him and gasped once he recognized the man. “Samuel?”

The man frowned. “Uh...do I know you? If so, I’m sorry if I can’t recognize you. My memory’s not the best...”

Yuki’s eyes widened as she realized who Ken was talking about. “Samuel? It’s been so long! Do you remember us? Yuki and Ken?”

Samuel froze in surprise. “Hold up...you two are really the kids I met all those years ago? You two have really grown up!”

Ken laughed. “It’s been a while! It’s great to see you again, Sam.”

Sam smiled as his nickname was remembered. Then he looked at the two children that were huddling next to the Radiant Swords and quickly put two and two together. “Hold on, are these two your kids?”

Yu answered the question for his parents. “Yes we are! The name’s Yu, and this is my sister Kana! Pleased to meet you!”

Kana bowed to him. “It’s a pleasure to meet you! Mom and dad told us a bit about you! You met them on the quest, right?”

Sam laughed heartily. “Really, now? Well, it’s a pleasure to meet you two kids as well. You guys going up that mountain?”

“Yep!” Yu chirped. “Do you live here?”

“Uh, no.” Sam replied. “I just built a cabin here since it’s a favorite camping spot of mine. In fact, I just finished a camping expedition now. It’s a bit cloudy today, but I’m sure that once you get past the cloud layer you’ll still have quite a view.”

The kids were greatly pleased by the news. “Yay!”

After a couple more minutes of conversation, the family waved goodbye to their old friend before setting out on their expedition. They didn’t know what to expect, but they still felt like they would be ready for anything.

 

Several hours later, they were beginning to question that.

Yu huffed and puffed as he dug his sword into the slippery slope that he was currently sliding down. Beside him, his sister gasped as her own blade began sliding loose from the crevice that she had rammed it into, only for Yu to grunt as he grabbed her sleeve and pulled her up. Above them, Yuki and Ken panted as they leapt from precipice to precipice, only to turn around and offer some help to their kids.

None of them had ever climbed a mountain before, so they had no idea that it was going to be this slippery - or this windy, since the constant bursts of snowy wind threatened to knock them off the mountain altogether. Using magical jumps would have been a solution, had it not been for the intense winds. Even magical shielding wasn’t a end-all solution because of how much energy it would use if kept up constantly.

As the Nebulous Angels pulled themselves onto the next ledge, Yu nearly slipped and stabbed his blade into the ground to regain traction - almost taking off one of his sister’s fingers in the process. Kana squeaked in panic while Yu sheepishly apologized.

A frigid wind blew over the family, bringing with it waves of biting frost that chilled them to the bone. Even with his magic, Ken still shivered as he clawed his way onto the nearest wide ledge. “Yuki, are you cold?”

Yuki shivered a bit despite shaking her head. “Uh...not really. I’m in my element, after all!”

Ken groaned. “Not this again.”

Yuki just laughed and looked back at their kids. “Hey, you guys need help? Once we get onto this ledge, we can have some lunch. There’s even a tree here.”

Yu perked up. “Did you say lunch?”

Kana rolled to her feet and leapt at the nearest protruding ledge, her boots digging a good ten centimeters into the thick blanket of snow. Just as she was about to prompt her brother to do the same, another blast of frozen wind nearly knocked her off the ledge. Yu struggled to his feet, his eyes beginning to show some desperation.

Kana glared at the oncoming waves of frost as if to challenge them. “Come...on! Stop making this harder than it already is!”

Her eyes burst into a blaze of blue light. “I’m hungry! I just want to eat lunch already!”

The Radiant Swords’ jaws dropped in unison as they saw their daughter shimmer with violet light. The next moment, Kana had materialized a pair of starry wings the dark purple color of a dimly-lit twilight. Seeing his sister pull it off, Yu’s eyes blazed with newfound determination as his own wings shimmered into existence, the deep indigo color of a midnight sky. With a flap of their wings, the Nebulous Angels launched themselves upwards, powering through the frigid winds that attempted to blow them off course. Within a couple of seconds, the siblings landed in front of their flabbergasted parents and beamed at them.

“Alright, let’s eat!”

 

Yuki had crammed a large amount of sandwiches into her bag, but unfortunately the sandwiches had become quite flattened and cold during their climb. They now resembled deformed lumps of...something, but it didn’t matter to the two kids. Even if they could use magic to reheat it, it would still look odd - but they really just wanted something that they could safely shove into their mouths.

As the family ate, Yuki noticed that their children hadn’t bothered to withdraw their starry wings yet. “Hey, you two. You still haven’t really explained why you sometimes just grow these wings out of nowhere.”

Yu stopped eating for a bit. “Hm? Uh...we don’t know. At least I think that they fit the title that the Aurorans gave us...and, well, it kind of stuck with me. They seem to only show up if we’re feeling really motivated or something. But...uh, do you like them?”

Yuki smiled warmly despite the cold. “Aw, of course I do! They look really cool! They’re just like looking at real starfields!”

“Ah...thank you!” Kana said happily.

After requesting his son’s permission, Ken was eager to do a bit of testing on them. He lightly grasped Yu’s wingtip. “Your wings don’t really feel like anything I know. It’s like they aren’t solid, but they still feel corporeal if you touch them. Can you feel my hand?”

“Uh...no?” Yu replied. “I don’t think these are actually a part of me. Probably some kind of part-solid magic, if you ask me. What if you try something a bit more extreme than touching it? Like maybe trying to hit it?”

“Uh, I’m not cut out for that. Besides, that doesn’t sound very smart…”

Ken trailed off as Yu drew his sword and furled his wings so that they were in striking range. With childish recklessness, he slashed at the starry material in front of him, tearing the top half of his wing clean off.

The Radiant Swords feared for the worst...but Yu didn’t look worse for wear. The part of his wing that he had cut off simply shimmered and vanished into indigo sparks, while the part that remained just regrew in an instant.

“Wow, that’s cool!” Kana gushed. “They regrow!”

Yu laughed as he willed his wings to dissolve, and Kana did the same. He wondered if his parents could make wings of their own...but he decided to save that question for later. As of now, he had more pressing matters to deal with - namely, the half-eaten sandwich that he had been holding.

So, without further ado, the family went back to eating lunch.

 

After their lunch, the family resumed their climb with renewed vigor. The wind had subsided a bit, making the slippery ice their only real challenge. Kana had come up with an interesting solution of just blowing up the ice before jumping to it, and despite the complaints of her parents it actually worked. Somewhat.

As the cloud layer shrouded them in grey fog, Ken and Yuki marched up a set of staircase-like rocks. Yu and Kana followed in their footsteps, waving their hands in front of them as if to ward off the clouds. Noticing their discomfort, Yuki drew her sword and willed it to glow with bright blue light, illuminating a path through the mist.

The trek went on for an uneventful hour before a deep rumbling sound was heard. Ken marched onward for about ten seconds before realizing what happened.

“Uh...did anyone else hear that?”

Yuki looked around in alarm as the kids huddled together. “Alright, everyone. Stay alert. There might be some big creatures nearby, or it could just be an avalanche of sorts…”

She was cut off by the sound of crashing snow.

“Uh, Yuki?” Ken began slowly as he saw a wave of white hurtling towards them at top speed. “I think it was the second one!”

The Nebulous Angels gasped as Yuki drew her sword and unleashed a massive bolt of power at the oncoming snow. The beam struck the wave head-on and blasted it into a fine powder, only for her to look up and see another wave of snow about to drop right on top of them.

As Yuki prepared to blast that too, the Nebulous Angels stepped in and projected a barrier above the family. While the impact against their combined shield nearly brought them to their knees, the shield successfully stopped the falling snow.

“Whew! Nice work, you two!” Ken praised.

Before the kids could provide their usual ecstatic reply, the ice they were standing on buckled and split. Yu yelped in surprise as he clumsily leapt over the growing spiderweb of cracks under his feet, while Kana followed closely in his footsteps. The family ran to more solid ground as the ice behind them crumbled and fell into the mist.

The ground shook again as more snow started tumbling from above. “This is dangerous!” Yuki yelled. “We need to get to higher ground!”

Her three companions nodded as they used magic to launch themselves from precipice to precipice. Yu screamed as the icy platform he landed on shattered under his feet, only for Yuki to quickly grab him using magic. As several snowy boulders rolled down a slope above them, Ken raised his sword and unleashed a fiery blast to obliterate them. Scanning the area, he noticed that the easiest way up was via a perilous series of rocky protrusions sticking out of the mountain - which, while being the easiest route, was by no means easy in itself.

Yuki groaned in anticipation, but the Nebulous Angels saw this as another opportunity to prove themselves. Unleashing a blaze of light as their wings formed once more, each kid took their respective parent by the hand and launched into the sky. Ken just stared in surprise while Yuki screamed hysterically, but the Radiant Swords still found time to blast apart all of the falling debris that would have struck their children. The Nebulous Angels themselves weren’t the best fliers and were tiring rather quickly, but they were still determined to pull through.

With a final push, the siblings shot out of the clouds, tumbling to a stop on a snowy slope alongside their parents. The Nebulous Angels panted as their wings dissolved, and the Radiant Swords stumbled to their feet and tried to process what had just happened.

“...Well,” Yu asked hesitantly, “How was it?”

Both of his parents didn’t even need to say anything, instead just holding out their arms. Laughing with unadulterated glee, Yu leapt into their arms for a group hug - and Kana was quick to follow. Looking at the crashing snow below them, the family thought it was safe to say that they had managed to escape the avalanche.

Then they looked above them and were greeted by the sight of another view from above the clouds. The afternoon sun shone brightly above them amidst the pure, pale-blue sky, bathing the clouds in a brilliant blanket of white light. Despite the chaos that had just occurred, the family couldn’t help but take a deep breath of the crisp, cold air and smile to themselves.

Surely the rest of the journey would be much more enjoyable, with a view like the one currently before them.

 

_Several hours later, on the mountain’s summit._

Beside a crackling campfire, Yu and Kana ran around carrying pots as they helped their mother clean up after the campfire dinner she had just cooked for them. Due to the nature of the trip, Yuki was unable to bring too many ingredients for their dinner, and ended up having to bring some foods that they could just boil in water. It didn’t really matter, though - Yuki could make nearly anything taste good, especially to her family.

The sun dipped just barely below the clouds, bathing the sky in a warm orange glow. Yu and Kana sat together, playing in the snow and pointing as they saw the stars flicker into existence above them, one by one. With no clouds to block them and not as much atmosphere to filter their light, the stars shone with pure, radiant luminosity - something that the Nebulous Angels found incredible. Ken laughed with them as he pointed out the different stars in the sky, and Yuki just sat back and relaxed while she ate the last of her meal.

The oncoming night was chilly, but the campfire still warmed the four of them all the way to their bones. However, much to the surprise of her husband and kids, Yuki pulled a pack of marshmallows and hot chocolate powder out of her bag. Within a couple short minutes, the four of them sat huddled around the fire, their freshly-prepared drinks warming them even more than the fire.

“Ahhh…” Kana sighed contentedly. “This feels so nice.”

Yuki smiled at her daughter. “Well? Was it worth the climb, Kana?”

“...Definitely.”

Yu pointed excitedly as he saw a burst of light streak across the sky. “Hey! Did anyone else see that? I saw a shooting star!”

Ken had been staring at the stars as well. “Sure did, Yu. Do you believe in wishing on shooting stars? If you do, now would be a good time to make a wish.”

His son laughed with glee. “Okay! Well...uh...I wish for all of my friends and family to live long lives filled with happiness!”

Yuki put a hand over her heart. “Aw, Yu! That’s so sweet of you!”

Kana hesitantly raised a hand. “That’s a really good wish, but don’t you think that you could maybe get a bit more value out of it?”

Her brother tilted his head. “Hm? How?”

“Well, you know those stories where the person just wishes for more wishes? Do you think that something like that could work? Then we could use as many wishes as we wanted, and we could help out even more people!”

Yu scratched his head. “Uhhh...maybe?”

As the siblings discussed what wish they should make, Yuki gently nudged Ken. “Hey, Ken? How big do you think that shooting star was?”

Ken sighed. “Big enough to destroy our planet, for sure. If those books the humans left behind are any indication, this world is really fragile.”

Yuki gazed into the darkening sky. “Yeah...that’s true. I really can’t even think to imagine how small our planet is in the universe...but at the same time, I don’t really want to think about that. I’d just like to stick with our world for now. Even if it was small to the humans, and infinitesimal to the universe, Territe is big enough for all of us to live happy lives on, right?”

“Heh...it sure is.”

As the night went on, eventually the Nebulous Angels got tired. Retreating into their tent, the two kids said goodnight to their parents before curling up in their sleeping bags. Ken and Yuki sat outside a bit longer, enjoying the fresh mountain air and the view of the stars above the clouds. But after a while, even they huddled up inside the tent and went to bed, their thoughts full of the wonderful memories they had just created.

 

_Needless to say, waking up on the summit of the snowy mountain was nothing short of breathtaking. Once they had taken care of everything, Yuki had started a massive snowball fight - one that her husband and kids were more than happy to join in on. Once all of them were soaked and laughing, they finally decided to take their leave._

_The descent back to the surface was much easier than the ascent. Since the Radiant Swords actually knew the nearby town of Eulogia quite well, they just teleported down - just like how they had teleported to Eulogia to start their climb. After a short rest in the village, they simply teleported back home._

_They really owed Sophia for telling them about this technique._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Inspired by my time winter camping when I was younger. Despite the fact that I had to sleep outside when it was about -28 degrees Celsius, I'll still say that it was an experience worth remembering.
> 
> Also, I really wanted to write a winter camping section after remembering how good _Laid-Back Camp_ was when I watched it. I'm hoping that they make a second season, because that show was so comfy.


	5. Carefree Drifting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Was kind of bored and out of inspiration, so this is a shorter chapter. It's also kind of filler, created from random thoughts swirling around in my bored mind.

“One, two, three...go!”

As Ken gave the signal, he and his son took a deep breath as they lifted the box. They had found a large tub of metal bits and pieces lying in their attic, and Ken had decided to move it out of the house so they didn’t have to worry about it anymore. Problem was, the box was really heavy - so, Yu had jumped at the opportunity to help out.

Carefully stepping down the staircase one step at a time, Yu handled the front half of the box while Ken held the back as support. Really, they could have used their magic to at least help them out, but magic was a fickle thing. With a box this heavy, a small mishandling could be disastrous. Besides, Ken wanted to have his son practice handling situations without his magic - a challenge that Yu was happy to try.

The two of them got to the landing, and Yu stopped for a bit to squat down and rest. Yu was fairly strong for an eleven-year-old, but the box they were carrying probably weighed almost as much as both of them combined - if not more. As Ken was about to ask him if he was okay, he just got up and picked up from where he left off.

A couple of slow, careful minutes later, the two of them carried the box out their door and deposited it on a trolley they had prepared beforehand. As Ken breathed a sigh of satisifaction, Yu plopped down on the nearest rock and groaned.

“Hey, Yu.” Ken asked him. “You sure you’re doing okay?”

“I’m fine. It’s just that my arms hurt a lot after that.”

Ken felt up his son’s arms and didn’t feel anything abnormal. “Well, you should be feeling fine in a couple of hours, if you don’t try to heal it faster. At least you didn’t injure your back.”

Yu sighed contentedly. “I guess. That would have been way worse.”

Noticing that his son was in a bit of a tired mood, Ken decided to go for the surefire way to cheer him up. “Anyways, nice job back there. You were a real help.”

As expected, a small grin appeared on Yu’s face. “Really? Uh...thank you!”

 

Meanwhile, on the roof of their house, Yuki watched on as her daughter hammered the next nail into the roof. The shingles on their rooftop had been falling out as of late, and Yuki had decided that it was about time to replace them. Fortunately for her, Kana was more than happy to help her mother with this task.

Yuki  _ had  _ asked Kana if she needed a break - several times, in fact. But Kana seemed to be determined to finish the task with as little help as possible. She had started her task with a bit of justified clumsiness, but she had quickly caught on and gained momentum rapidly. Measuring, laying, and nailing shingles onto their roof with exponentially increasing speed, Kana had nearly finished her entire task by herself. They had admittedly split up the work, but Yuki was still impressed that Kana had done so much within that time frame. She  _ was _ only 10, after all.

Kana, however, was actually getting quite tired. Her arms ached from swinging her hammer at a nigh-constant pace, her mind was beginning to get fevered from meticulously lining up the shingles, and the morning sun had been intensely blazing down on her for the last hour or so. Yet her mind was still held by an unshakable resolve to finish her task. Even if her thought processes had faded into monotony -  _ place, align, nail, hammer, repeat _ \- in the back of her mind she was still dead-set on completion.

Within the next five minutes, Kana decisively struck the final nail into the roof. Yuki gave her a look of approval as Kana collapsed on the roof and rolled on her back. Looking up at the sky, her tired eyes were nonetheless filled with satisfaction.

“Hey, Kana.” Yuki called. “You okay?”

“Uh...I’m fine. I’ll just need some rest and water later.”

Noticing that her daughter was in a bit of a tired mood, Yuki decided to go for the surefire way to cheer her up. “Anyways, nice job back there. You were a real help.”

As expected, a small grin appeared on Kana’s face. “Really? Uh...thank you!”

 

_ One hour later... _

Yu hummed cheerfully to himself as he inserted wooden beams into their respective slots on one of their frame pieces. Beside him, Kana held another piece of the frame as Ken fastened more wooden beams to it with screws. At the front of the room, Yuki read from an instruction booklet, giving new directions once each step was finished.

After hearing that their neighbors’ kids had accidentally broken their old bed in a play-wrestling session, the four of them had volunteered to help them assemble the new bed that they had acquired. But it had turned out to be a lot more complicated than they anticipated. Already, they had restarted three times due to some missed instructions and fine print.

However, once they had actually figured out how to read the directions, the rest of the construction had gone fairly smoothly. They just needed to assemble the last bits of the supporting frames now.

Taking the half of the frame that Yu had assembled, Ken and Yuki held them together while Kana took a screwdriver from the nearby shelf and started screwing the pieces together. Once the frame was completed, they placed it in its slot on the bed frame and quickly assembled the second one.

Once they placed the second frame, the three of them noticed that Yu had mysteriously gone missing. But as if on cue, a tired and sweating Yu shuffled into the room, pulling a rolled-up mattress behind him. The mattress had to have been almost twice his size and heavier than he was, yet he had somehow lugged it up an entire flight of stairs to the second floor. Kana clapped enthusiastically as Yu looked to his parents for any signs of approval. In response, Yuki knelt down and patted him on the head, which instantly brought a wide grin to his face.

The mattress was wrapped in a layer of plastic, but apparently Kana didn’t know the meaning of “open it normally”. With a single, flourishing motion, she drew her sword, slashed the plastic wide open, and sheathed it. Kana was very careful with her blade, so there was no risk of anyone getting hit - and the mattress had somehow remained undamaged as well. However, the mattress unfolded and expanded almost instantly due to her sudden attack, and ended up bowling over Yu, who had leaned on a nearby table to rest. As an embarrassed Kana profusely apologized to her dazed brother, Yuki and Ken took the opportunity to lay the mattress on the frame and finish the job.

After getting thanked by their neighbors, the four of them wandered around town until the Radiant Swords realized that their parents were planting new crops today. Since their kids were up for it, they decided to go and lend a hand.

 

_ Three hours later… _

The four of them had worked diligently to plant all the crops, and they had finished the job remarkably quickly. Ai had told them that there was no need to water the plants yet, since Haru had predicted that there was going to be some rain soon. Sure enough, there were grey clouds gathering at the horizon, blowing towards them as they spoke.

However, Yu and Kana had spotted a nearby forest, and apparently they hadn’t had enough for the day yet. They asked their parents if they could go play there for a bit, and the Radiant Swords were happy to oblige. Daichi even personally recommended the spot to them, saying that he and Sachi had sometimes gone there in their spare time to admire the nature.

So, within the next hour, the family of four arrived at the forest. Yu and Kana had found a river with a small waterfall flowing into it, and were now having fun splashing around in the water. Ken had found a log to sit on, and Yuki soon came over to sit beside him.

“Heh. That brings back a memory.” Yuki told Ken. “Remember that time that we found that forest near Electi Terram, and we stopped there to play around?”

Ken laughed. “Oh, yeah! Wait, then we got caught in a rainstorm…”

“But we hid in a cave! That was fun!”

Ken sighed as he conceded the point. In the river, their kids splashed each other with water and laughed playfully - a sight that made the hearts of the Radiant Swords lighten considerably. Yu pointed excitedly as he spied a couple of fish swimming in the river, and Kana quickly used her magic to form a “cage” of sorts, trapping the fish in a ring of pale blue light. Walking over to the trapped fish, she tried to pick one up, only to yelp and drop it as it flailed around. Mustering her courage, she firmly grasped it and waved it at her parents. “Look what we got!”

Yuki laughed. “That’s nice, Kana! But make sure to be nice to the fish, okay? They can’t survive outside of water for long. Besides, they deserve to be treated well too - just like everyone in this world.”

“Ah...okay!” Kana chirped, gently placing the fish back into the river and dispelling the cage that held them. Since Yu had just been trying to grab a fish at the time, he was a bit dismayed but nonetheless willing to oblige.

A dozing Ken started and held out his hand as he felt the tell-tale pattering of raindrops on his head. Yuki noticed too, and realized that the rainstorm her parents had mentioned earlier must have caught up to them. The two of them abruptly got up and, noticing a small cave nearby, retreated into it for shelter. When they called their kids over, both of them had similar ideas.

“No thanks! I’m going to stay out here for a bit!” Kana told them.

“Yeah! I want to try staying out in the rain!” Yu added. “We’re usually inside whenever it rains like this.

So instead of seeking shelter, the two kids playfully leapt around in the rapidly-forming puddles, laughing all the while. As an experiment, Yu drew his sword and tried slicing individual raindrops out of the air - which, to his surprise, actually worked quite a bit of the time. Noticing this, Kana tried too, and soon the kids were swinging their swords around wildly in hopes of splattering more raindrops.

Yuki laughed softly as she saw the siblings heat up their blades, admiring and even trying to shape the puffs of smoke that were generated when the raindrops hit the glowering metal. She and Ken had never thought of such ingenious ways to play around when they were in the rain. They  _ had  _ been older than their kids now when they had taken the quest, so perhaps young children truly did see the world differently, like those stories said.

Eventually, both of them  _ did _ end up getting a bit sick of the intensifying rain soaking into their clothes. However, instead of coping with it in a normal fashion, Kana just raised her sword and projected an umbrella-like dome of pulsating light above her head, which easily deflected all the rain that would have hit her. Noticing this, Yu raised his sword to do the same, but Kana just held her shield over his head so that he wouldn’t have to.

“Hey, kids?” Ken called. “You know that if you need shelter, there’s a cave right here, right?”

Yu laughed. “Don’t worry about it! Kana’s shield will make it so that nothing can even touch us! Isn’t that right, sis?”

Kana nodded enthusiastically. “I’m doing my best, so for sure!”

Both of them froze as they heard a boom of thunder in the distance.

“Er…” Yuki began, “Does your shield account for lightning or not?”

“Uh...no?” Kana said slowly, her smile slowly beginning to waver.

“Don’t worry about it, sis!” Yu reassured her. “I read about lightning in one of Sophia’s books, and it said that the chances of lightning striking a specific location like this are incredibly low!”

His ensuing laughter was cut off by a searing bolt of electricity that struck a puddle barely five meters away from them, instantly blasting it into steam.

The siblings froze as their minds processed the sudden burst of light and sound

Then the two of them ran screaming into the cave.

 

_ The Nebulous Angels spent the next hour huddled in the cave with their parents, yelping every time they heard a louder-than-usual burst of thunder. The Radiant Swords just comforted their kids, assuring them that their magic would be able to turn away any lightning bolts that would have hit them. _

_ The four of them still appreciated the rain, however. After all, it was one of the reasons their crops were able to grow. _

_ But after the storm, when the family was walking back home, the world decided to compensate for it. The Nebulous Angels had pointed and waved at the magnificent rainbow that had appeared in the sunset-lit sky, completely taken aback by its clear, bold colors. _

_ In their minds, the sight made the earlier scare totally worth it. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The bed segment was inspired by my recent experience assembling an Ikea bed. It was...not something that I look forward to doing again. Similarly, the thing about carrying the box was inspired by the time I carried a bunch of unused furniture down the stairs. My back hurt for a day afterwards, but that was probably just me.
> 
> Also, it was raining when I finished the chapter (aka finished the rain part). Huh...


	6. Vivid Euphony

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Longer chapter this time around. At least I get to introduce some new characters.

The Nebulous Angels held their parents’ hands and talked excitedly as the four of them walked into the entrance to the village. They had just duelled Sophia and gotten away with their first victory over the magical librarian, and the kids couldn’t help but talk about it incessantly. The Radiant Swords congratulated them, but in all honesty it wasn’t too hard for swordfighters as skilled as their children to beat Sophia. Her knowledge was vast, her magic powerful, and her weapon advanced. Her experience in swordplay was unfortunately none of those things.

Nevertheless, they had gone to Sophia to ask if she knew of a certain village - specifically, Canary Village. That was the village where their old friends Mitama and Hibiki lived, and the family was looking to pay them a visit. Fortunately for them, Sophia _had_ indeed visited the village before, and had even perfectly remembered it in her memory. So, at the request of the Radiant Swords, she had teleported their family there before preparing for another session of storytelling for the townspeople.

As they entered the village, the Radiant Swords noted its design. It resembled their old home of Yume quite a bit, being quite traditional in design. However, it seemed to be much larger and complex than their home, which was only appropriate since it housed many more people.

Yu pointed excitedly as a familiar figure spotted them and ran up to them. Her chrome-silver hair billowing in the breeze, Mitama Nagoyaka came over to greet her friends. “Hey there! Didn’t expect you four to show up today.”

The Radiant Swords bowed and said their greetings as their kids enthusiastically greeted the newcomer. Besides being older-looking, Mitama still greatly resembled the guardian that the Radiant Swords had met on that fateful day - in fact, it seemed that almost all of their friends seemed to like wearing similar or identical clothes every day, just like themselves. However, a key difference that the pair spotted was in her eyes - after spending twenty years living normally with her sister, they no longer seemed devoid of all luster. However, only time could tell if they were going to ever fully recover the light that they once possessed.

“So,” Mitama asked them, “What brings you four here today?”

Ken just shrugged. “I don’t know, to be honest. We just felt like paying a visit, that’s all. Sophia knew this place well enough to warp us here.”

Mitama allowed herself a small smile. “Heh, that’s nice of you.” Turning towards the siblings, she knelt down and addressed them. “Hey there. You two look older than you were the last time I saw you. How’s it going?”

“Life is great!” Yu exclaimed. “I just beat Sophia in a duel!”

“Same!” Kana chirped.

Mitama laughed softly. “Nice work. I’ve duelled her a couple times myself, and for someone who had never lifted a sword before she was 16, she’s made quite a bit of improvement. But you two must be pretty strong for your age if you could beat her.”

“Thank you!” Kana replied. “Uh, so...I heard from mom and dad that you’re a _really_ strong swordfighter. Would it be fine if we could duel you to see how powerful you are?”

“Hmm…” Mitama thought. “You know what, I’m up for a spar. I’m quite interested to see how strong you’ve grown, after all. You two can fight me at once if you like. It would be nice to see some teamwork.”

“Sure!” Yu and Kana exclaimed in unison. “We’ll do our best!”

As the kids prepared for their sparring session, Mitama addressed the Radiant Swords. “You’ll find my sister in that park up ahead. Walk straight for a bit, then turn onto the first path to your left. You’ve chosen a pretty good time to visit - my sister’s made a couple of new friends.”

The Radiant Swords thanked her as they left to go find Hibiki.

 

Ken and Yuki took the path that Mitama had gave them, and sure enough, they arrived at a green, forested park area. Once they were there, it wasn’t hard to locate their old friend Hibiki. Her white-and-silver clothing stood out among the rest of the people in the park, and she was talking _very_ loudly to two people the duo didn’t know.

Before they could say hello, Hibiki turned around and noticed them. She instantly broke into a wide smile and rushed at them. “Hey! You two are here!”

The Radiant Swords laughed and said their greetings as Hibiki skidded to a stop in front of them. Like her sister, she had mostly retained her appearance over the last twenty years - pale bluish-silver hair the color of a cold winter sky, framing a similarly-colored pair of energetic eyes and a smile bright enough to turn night into day. While she had grown up a bit, she was still kind of short compared to the Radiant Swords - at least twenty centimeters shorter than Ken.

Hibiki bounced excitedly, having retained the vast majority of her childlike glee from all those years ago. “What brings you two here today?”

“Well, we just wanted to drop in and visit.” Yuki told her. “Mitama told us that you just made a couple friends.”

“Yeah!” Hibiki exclaimed, motioning to the people she was talking with. “Come on, guys, introduce yourselves!”

The first newcomer was a young man about as tall as Yuki. He wore a short-sleeved purple shirt of some kind over a white undershirt, long white trousers, and brown boots. A large cape billowed behind him, much like the ones that Mitama and Hibiki usually wore - except instead of silver, it was a dark shade of blue. Messy golden hair and bright turquoise eyes framed a curious yet warm smile as he addressed his new acquaintances.

The person beside him was a girl who looked strikingly similar to him. She was a tad bit shorter, but had nearly the exact same physical features and clothing choice. However, her cloak was dark red instead of blue, and she wore a knee-length white skirt rather than trousers. Still, the resemblance was apparent - give them identical clothing, and the only way to tell them apart would be from the girl’s longer hair. She even wore a similar smile on her face as she also addressed the newcomers.

The Radiant Swords were curious. _Are those two twins?_

The boy spoke up. “Hey there! The name’s Xander. Pleased to make your acquaintance.”

“Yeah, and I’m his twin sister, Melody!” the girl added. “Nice to meet you!”

Hibiki beamed. “These two are really cool! Xander here is an incredible artist, who makes things so realistic that you can almost experience what he draws!”

Xander managed a sheepish grin. “Hey, Hibiki, you don’t have to flatter me like that, you know.”

But Hibiki wasn’t done. “And Melody’s a bard! She travels around, playing music and singing to people. Her music is so good!”

Melody smiled. “Aw, thanks.”

Ken laughed and held out his hand in greeting. “Well, it’s a pleasure to meet you too. I’m Ken, and this here is Yuki.”

Instead of shaking hands, the twins just stared at them.

Ken was beginning to get a bit confused. “Uh, is something wrong?”

Melody suddenly exploded. “You’re the Radiant Swords!”

Yuki backed away a bit from her outburst. “Uh, yes?”

Xander laughed. “Oh, wow! We’ve always wanted to meet you two! While we were growing up, we heard all of the stories about you guys - about your quest, and how you helped earn our planet’s freedom! We heard about how you two were incredibly strong fighters who could overcome anything that got in your way, even slaying gods!”

“Uh, those might be exaggerated…” Ken began slowly.

Melody radiated with glee. “Well, we thought you guys were really cool! You guys were like heroes to us! So we hoped that someday, we would get to meet you two. And here you are!”

The Radiant Swords were flattered, but took all of their praise and questions in stride. It was fine for those twins to look up to them, even if it was a bit embarrassing.

Hibiki went on. “Melody and Xander have been travelling around, bringing their art and music to people all over Territe! I just met them here today, and I was hoping that I could get some musical advice from Melody. And what would you know, you two showed up as well!”

Melody smiled. “Yeah, I’ve been going all over the world with my brother. I’ve been practicing a lot, and everyone deserves some good music in their life. My dream is to play music that brings joy to everyone who hears it, and I’ve discovered that magic is a huge step towards achieving that dream!”

Yuki perked up. “Magic, you say?”

“Yeah, magic!” Melody replied. “We had a couple Magnum move into our village after you guys freed the planet, who taught us how to use magic. We use it for some basic stuff, like remotely accessing our gear from back home. But what’s really cool is that we can incorporate magic into what we do - like my music, or my brother’s artwork - to make it invoke certain feelings or emotions in those who witness it!”

Yuki was interested. “That sounds really cool! Can you show us?”

Melody grinned as she hefted a strange object that she had left on a nearby table. It resembled a small silver harp, but it lacked any strings or apparent ways of making sound. This was quickly rectified when the harp suddenly generated numerous strings of glowing turquoise light when Melody lifted it. Eyes glowing with a pale light, she strummed a short, relaxing, lullaby-like tune. The magically-charged sound waves washed over everyone in the vicinity, making them feel at ease. Xander leaned on a nearby tree, Hibiki sighed contentedly, and the Radiant Swords felt the sudden urge to lie down and take a nap in the warm sunlight.

Melody finished her tune, and everything went back to normal. The Radiant Swords quickly got over their relaxed mood and applauded enthusiastically, prompting Melody to take a bow.

“That was amazing!” Ken said, impressed. “I’ve never seen magic applied in such a way before!”

Xander laughed. “Well, wait until you hear her sing. It’s something to behold.”

“Thanks, guys!” Melody said. “Xander’s artwork has a similar effect, except his magic is residual - meaning if he enchants what he draws, then the picture can evoke feeling without him needing to use magic again! Come on, Xander, show them something! You just keep getting better and better!”

“Uh...I think I’ll pass.”

Melody huffed. “Hey, I showed off my music too! If you’re not showing your artwork, then I will!”

And before her brother could protest, she reached into his bag and pulled out a rolled-up piece of parchment paper. Unfurling it, she displayed it to the Radiant Swords, who gasped in unison. What stood before them now was a stunningly realistic illustration of a group of heroes on a cliff, brandishing their swords at the gigantic dragon challenging them amidst the wreckage of a burning village. The drawing was spectacular, for sure. But what made it interesting was that it seemed to give off an aura of determination - one that made the Radiant Swords instinctively feel like they could win any fight that was thrown at them.

“Uh...how is it?” Xander asked slowly.

“Just...magnificent.” Yuki breathed. “You’re a really talented artist!”

As Xander tried to stammer out a response, twin voices from behind them spoke. “So cool!”

Xander whipped around in surprise, only to find Yu and Kana staring up at him with awe sparkling in their eyes. “Ah! How long have you been standing there?”

Melody tilted her head. “Oh, hello! Who might you be?”

Yu laughed. “I’m Yu, and this is my sister Kana! We’re the kids of the Radiant Swords! Nice to meet you!”

The two kids were beaming with joy, but their parents couldn’t help but note that they were looking quite tired and battered. It was evident that their duel with Mitama hadn’t been in their favor.

Xander smiled. “Ah, so you’re Ken and Yuki’s kids? I’m Xander, and this is my twin sister Melody. Nice to meet you!”

“Same!” Melody exclaimed. “You guys look just like them!”

For the Nebulous Angels, that was a compliment. “Thank you!”

Noticing Mitama walking into the group, Ken addressed his friend. “Hey, Mitama! How did the kids do in that duel?”

“They did exceptionally well.” Mitama told him proudly. “Your kids are extremely powerful for their age. But, uh...I’ll admit that I’m not one to hold back a lot in duels like this.”

“Mitama was so fast!” Yu told his parents. “You can barely see her move! Me and Kana could barely fight back, we were just trying to defend as much as we could!”

“Yeah, she’s really strong!” Kana added. “But you two beat her by working together...so I bet that if we practiced, we could too!”

Mitama allowed herself a small smile. “That’s the spirit.”

Her sister’s stomach rumbled, and she grinned sheepishly. “Uh, sorry. I guess I’m getting a bit hungry.”

“Hmm...well, it’s about time for lunch anyways.” Yuki said. “If you’ve got some suggestions and the ingredients, I’d be happy to cook for you guys.”

“You would do that for us?” Melody asked incredulously. “Thanks so much!”

Xander scratched his head. “Er...if it isn’t too much to ask, do you happen to know what tacos are? I read about them in a book, and I tried making them once. I really liked them, so…”

Yuki grinned. “Say no more. For sure I know what tacos are. And I’d be happy to make them for lunch, if you like them! I _did_ say I was taking suggestions!”

Xander beamed. “Thank you!”

 

A couple minutes later, the group was seated around a picnic table - with the exception of Yuki, who was running back and forth from the table to the grill that Mitama had set up. Hibiki had retrieved all the required ingredients from the local farmers, and Yuki had managed to handily make all the components for their tacos. Ken had offered his assistance with the intention of being an “assistant chef”, but Yuki had worked so fast that his role had been demoted to “person who holds spare bowls”.

Melody and Xander had stood far back for the entire time. Apparently the two of them were, in their own words, “sorely incompetent at cooking”. Xander recalled an experience he had cooking during a camping trip, when he had been trying to cook bacon and ended up setting it on fire. When he panicked, Melody had attempted to fix the situation by pouring a bucket of water on the burning pan. The resulting explosion had started a wildfire that nearly burned down the field they were in until they put it out with magic. In their words, “not our finest moment”.

“However, I promise our food itself isn’t as disastrous as our skill with cooking implements.” Melody had said. “But...well, it’s still nothing to write home about. We _have_ had a couple of... _experiences_ when it comes to food, but those aren’t too common.”

Xander gratefully dug in as soon as the food was ready, but the Nebulous Angels were a bit too preoccupied to start eating that fast. The kids had quickly warmed up to the newcomers, and had wished to try out some of the things that the twins had introduced to them. They had tried drawing artwork under Xander’s guidance, which ended quite well despite them never having practiced drawing before. They both ended up making simple-but-good drawings of various environments, a lakeside forest for Kana and a mountaintop sky for Yu.

Now, however, it was Melody’s turn to teach. The bard had managed to retrieve a couple instruments from home using her magic, and had offered to teach them how to play some of them. At their request, Melody had pulled out two metal flutes for them - but, much to the siblings’ chagrin, playing the flute was much harder than it looked.

As Melody watched and offered encouragement, Yu huffed and puffed but still couldn’t produce anything beyond a strained, rasping whistle. Kana fumbled with her positioning and fingering incessantly, but when she blew there was still no sound.

“Ah, don’t worry.” Melody offered. “It takes time to learn an instrument. To be honest, not even I know how to play the flute very well.”

“But Hibiki does!” Yu said in awe. “Hibiki, how can you play this thing so well?”

Hibiki hesitated, then brought out her wand. Putting the mouthpiece to her lips, she played a simple scale, eliciting applause from the two kids. “Aw, you don’t have to clap. It took me a really long time to learn how to play this, you know.”

“If you’re interested, I have some easier instruments,” Melody offered, taking the flutes back and dropping them in an invisible pocket that led straight to her instrument storage closet. Reaching in, she pulled out two lutes and offered them to the siblings.

Sure enough, the improvement was immediate. By “improvement”, the Nebulous Angels could now play several consecutive notes.

 

Eventually, they stopped for a bit to eat their lunch - if only for a few minutes. Seeing how entertained the Nebulous Angels were with her demonstration, Melody decided to try something else. Taking a couple of lyric sheets from her magic storage, she handed them out to the kids and gave them some instructions. Being the smart children they were, Yu and Kana understood immediately. In only a matter of minutes, Melody was playing a tune on her harp while the Nebulous Angels sung along to her music. The siblings were fairly new to this whole “singing” thing, but they were improving by the second.

Watching on, Yuki sighed contentedly. “Even without magic enchantment, Melody’s music is still so good.”

“Tell me about it.” Ken replied. “Hey, Xander, do you by any chance know how to play any instruments as well?”

Xander nodded. “Well, I do. But my knowledge on how to play them is fairly simple. I mostly just help my sister with some background instrumentation from time to time, since she can’t play too many instruments at once - although she _is_ pushing it.”

Looking at his sister playing with the kids, Xander remembered something. “Huh, I just remembered. We once read in a book that humans had a couple interesting ways to make music. For example, they made these programs that could process words, pitches and the like, before turning them into songs. My sister’s been looking into that recently, and she really wants to try creating one.”

“Sounds cool!” Ken told him. “If you ever meet our friend Sophia, she could maybe teach you guys how to make that. She’s really the only person I can think of that would know a lot about programming things.”

Melody finished her song, and her small audience applauded her and the Nebulous Angels. The three of them took a bow as they sat back at the table.

“That was fun!” Yu exclaimed.

Melody laughed. “Sing-alongs are always so entertaining. You guys did well!”

Xander seemed deep in thought. “Hmm…”

Yuki tilted her head. “Is something wrong?”

“Come to think of it, both of us have really wanted to watch your fighting in action.” Xander began slowly. “In fact, I had secretly hoped that we could duel the heroes that we grew up admiring. And now that we have the opportunity right here...if it isn’t too much, can you grant our wish?”

Melody stared at them and nodded pleadingly.

The Radiant Swords looked at each other and smiled.

 

Mere minutes later, the Nebulous Angels sat at the edge of the field, watching as their parents prepared to do battle with their new friends. Hibiki seemed excited to see the outcome of this match, and Mitama was serving as the referee.

Standing together on the field of battle, the Radiant Swords brandished their weapons. Blades crackling with magical power, both of them stood on guard, ready for anything their new opponents threw at them.

Some distance away from them, Melody fidgeted nervously with her harp as Xander raised his weapon in preparation. Apparently he was the one mostly responsible for defending the twins from any of the rogue machines that roamed the world, so his combat experience was far greater. It showed in his weapon, too - a lightweight silver bow with limbs that doubled as wicked blades. While it lacked a bowstring, Xander had demonstrated the ability to materialize both that and his arrows out of magic. There was no telling what he could do with it.

As both teams stared down their opponents, Mitama raised her blade and triggered a bright flash of light to get their attention. “Disarm to eliminate?”

The four combatants nodded.

Mitama planted her sword and observed. “You may begin.”

Xander wasted no time. The air shimmered around his bow as a glowing bowstring formed itself out of the ethereal threads. Within a couple of seconds, he created, nocked, and fired a barrage of turquoise arrows that soared towards their targets. As Yuki projected a barrier to stop the projectiles, Melody raised her harp and strummed a tune, materializing several blue sickles that shot towards Ken.

The Starry Sword deftly avoided the blasts, only for Melody to unleash a golden ray of light that seared towards him. Countering the attack with his own burst of fiery energy, he sprinted towards the bard at top speed. Panicking slightly, Melody’s eyes glowered as she played a new song, enchanting her music like she did before. Waves of fatigue rolled over Ken, slowing down his advance.

 _Heh, that’s clever._ he thought to himself. _Who knew a bard could fight like that?_

Despite his sudden energy loss, Ken still had enough time to perk up and block as Xander unleashed another flurry of arrows at him. As Yuki watched her husband furiously parrying all of the arrows, she noticed Melody switch to a different song. Suddenly, Xander became enveloped by a crimson aura as he began firing with increased vigor, pushing Ken back with a storm of magic bolts. His bow glowing bright red, Xander shot a scarlet arrow that exploded into a burst of flame, sending Ken flying.

Yuki groaned. _She’s the one giving him more power, while draining ours. We’ve got to take out Melody, or they’re going to beat us for sure._

She roared into action, drawing her blade and running straight at her adversaries. Melody turned towards her and projected another burst of sound - most likely to cripple or otherwise hinder her - but Yuki produced a low-energy barrier just strong enough to block whatever enchanting music Melody was currently playing. Xander noticed and unleashed a flurry of arrows, which Yuki blocked with her own storm of crescent slashes. Maneuvering into close-combat range, Yuki raised her sword and began her attack, only for Xander to stop firing and go on the defensive.

Turns out, for an archer, Xander had quite a bit of skill using the bladed component of his weapon. Yuki got him in a blade lock and tried to force the bow out of his hands, but he pulled out and retaliated with his own flurry of strikes. She blocked the attacks, but Melody promptly gave him another magical boost. Xander’s next strikes hit incredibly hard, forcing Yuki to leap back a couple of meters. In that time, Xander recreated his bowstring and fired an arrow of golden light at her, which she barely blocked. The impact still sent her skidding back a couple of meters.

Melody capitalized on the moment, strumming her harp as she generated several turquoise razorblades that hovered in the air. Raising her hand, she seemed to be calculating the best way to launch them - but was interrupted by Ken, who had snuck up on her unnoticed. As he raised his sword and swung downwards, Melody quickly ducked to the side and launched the razorblades at her attacker. While Ken dodged all of them, Xander quickly stepped in to protect his sister, unleashing a flurry of melee strikes using his blades.

But Ken was a stronger swordfighter than Yuki. Even after Melody activated another magic boost, Ken still held his ground. Melody grit her teeth as she projected another weakness-inducing field, but Ken had picked up on it and was now using the same trick that Yuki had performed. Xander had been completely unaffected by his sister’s magic for the whole fight, so either Xander had been doing that the whole time or Melody’s auras could target specific individuals.

As skilled as he was in close-quarters combat, Xander was still an archer first and a blade-fighter second. As such, in a prolonged brawl, he was no match for a dedicated swordfighter like Ken. Even with Melody constantly launching magical bolts at him, Ken eventually managed to overpower Xander and knock the bow out of his hands.

Xander simply raised his hands and admitted defeat. “Good game!”

Ken nodded and turned towards his last opponent. Melody was shaking in her boots now her brother had been taken out, but she still raised her harp as the air around her shimmered with magical light ready to coalesce into projectiles at any moment. As Ken slowly advanced on her, preparing for anything she would do, Melody backed up - straight into Yuki, who had snuck up on her from behind.

As Melody gasped in shock, Yuki did her job fast and efficiently. Shoving her blade in between the strings of Melody’s harp, with a simple flicking motion she dislodged the instrument from her grip, sending it tumbling to the floor.

Melody slowed her breathing back to a stable level, then smiled happily despite her defeat. As Xander and Ken came over, the four of them shook hands amidst the applause of their audience.

“Good game!”

 

_Several hours later…_

Melody played the last note, and the audience erupted into thunderous applause.

Looking on with pride, Ken and Yuki applauded along with them as the performers took a bow. Melody, Hibiki, and Xander had practiced the whole afternoon for this concert, and their effort had paid off. With Xander and Hibiki as her backup musicians, Melody had brought the joy of music to the people of Canary Village.

While she had used her magic to enchant her songs, as she did before, the music itself was heart-achingly beautiful in both sound and story. She sang ballads of star-crossed lovers separated across space and time, triumphant songs about heroes bravely venturing to defeat nefarious dragons, songs depicting epic tales of exploration and fortune - or sometimes, just songs about simple, quiet solitude. Regardless of what she performed, the audience felt exactly what she wanted them to feel, and it left them in awe and astonishment at the bard’s prowess.

Her backups deserved credit too. Accompanying Melody’s harp work, Hibiki’s flute playing was incredible, helping to evoke emotions or build up the backbones of the songs. And although Xander mostly played some spare string or percussion instruments, his support was really evident. He even helped with some backup vocals - who knew Xander had such a good singing voice?

Once the crowd finished their applause and began to clear out, the performers went offstage to meet their friends. Mitama enveloped her little sister in a huge hug while Xander and Melody sheepishly accepted the praise from their heroes.

Xander in particular had also taken the opportunity to showcase his art skills to the village. Having accepted requests from dozens of citizens, he had used a combination of imagination, skill, and magic to quickly draw and color the images the villagers had told him about. And while he looked a bit tired now, the fruits of his labors were evident - he had created countless masterpieces, each one imbued with a specific emotion ready to be passed on to its viewers.

As the Nebulous Angels praised them, Xander knelt down and pulled out two drawings from his bag. As the kids took them, their eyes widened. Xander had remembered the drawings the siblings had tried making earlier, and had decided to try and bring them to life himself. What were once simple sketches were now stunningly realistic panoramas which inspired awe despite not even being enchanted. Overcome with joy, the two kids tackled Xander in a hug, which stunned him.

It was getting late, so the group decided to make some dinner. This time, all of them collaborated to make noodles - although Yuki was making an effort to teach Melody and Xander how to cook noodles without setting anything on fire.

After their dinner, Yu and Kana were suddenly intrigued by the sound of loud explosions coming from the window. Leaving Mitama’s home and running into the cool night air, the two children marveled as they saw the villagers launching fireworks into the sky. As the rest of the group ran outside to look at what was going on, the sky lit up with countless bursts of vivid color. The stars were magnificent, for sure, but the storm of light currently encompassing the heavens just seemed so much more...vibrant.

The Nebulous Angels laughed, Yuki marveled, and Ken started explaining how the rockets worked at his son’s request. Melody and Xander looked on contentedly as Mitama wondered how she had forgotten such an event.

Raising his sword to the sky, Yu unleashed a scarlet flare into the sky, adding yet another explosion to the fireworks show. Noticing this, the rest of his family laughed playfully and started adding their multicolored blasts of magical energy to the spectacle. Melody and Xander looked at each other questioningly, then started adding to the magical barrage. Melody unleashed countless glimmering notes into the sky while Xander aimed his bow upwards and shot a hurricane of arrows, all of which streaked up and exploded into innumerable gleaming sparks.

Mitama noticed her sister’s grin and groaned. “Hibiki, no.”

“Yes!”

“No! Do you have any idea how much noise one of your blasts will cause?”

Hibiki shrugged. “We can just dampen the sound or something! Those guys are having so much fun, there’s no way I’m just going to sit out!”

And before Mitama could complain again, Hibiki became enveloped in a blazing aura of pale blue light. Raising her wand to the sky, she focused her magic before unleashing a gigantic pillar of light as if to pierce the heavens themselves.

Mitama sighed as she projected a sound-dampening barrier over the village.

The explosion seemed to turn night into day for a brief few seconds.

 

_The firework show went on for about an hour. After getting yelled at by her sister, Hibiki begrudgingly agreed to tone down her magical bursts a bit._

_After the show, the group realized that they had expended a great deal of energy launching magic into the sky - and as such, they were quite fatigued. All of them just collapsed on the nearest hill and fell asleep._

_When Xander and Melody woke up, everyone else was still asleep. Mitama and Hibiki had rolled down the hill and were now sprawled at its base. The Radiant Swords had somehow ended up holding hands, and their kids had instinctively latched onto their arms as they slept peacefully._

_As Melody fawned over how charming the scene was, Xander quickly scanned the scene and took a mental image of it. He counted on his photographic memory to paint a clear picture in his mind, one that could be accessed at any time._

_It would make for a nice piece of artwork._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My respect goes out to anyone who can actually play the flute well.
> 
> Melody and Xander went through more revisions than I would like to admit. Also, their surname is Galante. For anyone who gets it, yes I'm meming. Name generator doesn't lie, though.


	7. Maritime Bliss

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bit of an odd chapter for me, since I haven't really had any experience with the subjects described in this chapter.

The sun shone down on the gently rolling ocean waves, casting brilliant glimmers of light across their surface. On a peaceful, cloudless day like this, normally nothing out of the ordinary would be happening at sea - except today, two young fishermen were making quite the racket as they searched for their next meal.

Sitting on the edge of their wooden boat, Yu and Kana laughed cheerily as they repeatedly cast their fishing lines into the sparkling waters in hopes of catching something nice for their lunch. While they had packed some spare food, they had wanted to try something a bit more interesting since they were already at sea.

The idea of a boating trip had been put forth by Yuki this time, since the Radiant Swords had apparently done something like that in their youth. Since they wanted their kids to experience that too, they had decided to take their kids on a bit of an adventure. Borrowing a spare sailboat that Sophia had lying around, the family had set out for an island the Radiant Swords had once visited.

Yu grit his teeth and yanked violently as he felt a bite on his line. Sure enough, his hook came out with a fat, silver fish biting onto it. Taking the hook out and smiling as he saw his bait was still there, he proudly presented the fish to his parents. Kana noticed this and stared into the water, looking for a fish that she could catch as well.

Suddenly, she got an idea. “Hey, Yu? Water conducts electricity, right?”

Yu turned to her and tilted his head. “Yes, I think. Why do you ask?”

Kana grinned as she drew her sword and pointed it downwards, poised to strike at the water’s surface. “Well, I’m going to try that thing that I read in one of Sophia’s books. Here goes!”

As her eyes glowed blue and her sword began crackling with arcs of lightning, Yuki noticed what her daughter was doing. Her eyes widened as she quickly took action. “Kana, no! You can’t do that.”

Kana tilted her head, blade still raised. “Why?”

“Well, if you shock the water like that, you might end up frying a lot more sea life than you wanted.” Yuki told her. “It’d be nicer to the fish if you just tried to catch them the normal way. Also, there’s a risk of shocking yourself or your brother.”

Kana lowered her weapon as her eyes returned to normal. Although she was a bit dismayed, she was willing to oblige. “Okay. I’ll keep fishing, then!”

And sure enough, with a bit of guidance from Yuki, Kana soon found herself with a large brown fish to call her catch.

 

The tantalizing scent of cooking fish permeated the air as the Radiant Swords sat back and provided encouragement. Manning the grill were none other than their own children, who had seized an opportunity to practice their cooking. After all, it would be a terrible waste if the children of such a good cook didn’t inherit her skill.

With bright smiles on their faces, the Nebulous Angels deposited several plates of freshly grilled fish on the table, beaming even brighter when their parents praised them for their work. The four of them dug in, enjoying their food while the noontime sun shone brightly on them. It was a really good feeling - they didn’t have seafood that often, so these fish made a fairly new and tasty lunch.

Yu finished his fish first, and politely turned down Yuki’s offer to give him some of hers if he was still hungry. Running to the front of the ship, he surveyed the area and saw the tiny shape of an island on the horizon. “Oh! I think that’s the island we’re supposed to go to!”

Ken nodded as he read his map. “Judging from the path we’ve taken, that should be it. We’ll get there soon, don’t worry.”

Yu laughed as he kept looking around. However, his smile slowly began to fade as he noticed a long, dark shadow slowly approaching their boat. “Uh, guys?”

The boat shook as the water around them seemed to boil. Suddenly, a gigantic shape rose out of the water, sending a cascade of seawater splashing over them. The creature that emerged from the tumultuous waves seemed to be a massive sea serpent of sorts. Vivid turquoise scales covered its lengthy body, reflecting the sun as if they were made of glimmering pearls. Its head was like that of a stereotypical dragon - covered in spiky protrusions, with two intelligent reptilian eyes and a fang-lined mouth large enough to easily bite their boat in half.

Ken slowly looked up at the creature as his jaw dropped. Yu and Kana shrieked and hugged each other tightly for security. Yuki choked on her fish and broke into a coughing fit, eventually getting over it to stare at the creature as well.

Kana summed up the situation in one vocalization. “Uhhhhhhhhh....”

Ken and Yuki stepped in front of their cowering children as they casually put their hands on their sword hilts. The creature was huge and more than a little scary, they would admit. And if they remembered from the book correctly, it was also quite dangerous. But just like a certain somebody that had told them this many years ago, they didn’t believe that a single truly evil being existed on their planet. If that was true, then this giant serpent shouldn’t be hostile - only curious.

If the serpent was curious, it was still nothing compared to what the Nebulous Angels felt. The kids had overcome their temporary heart attacks and were now brimming with a desire to learn more about this newcomer despite their lingering fear.

Yu hesitantly walked up to the creature. “Uh...hi?”

Two pairs of eyes larger than his head turned towards him.

Yu gulped and faltered. Kana noticed this and came to her brother’s aid with a plate of fish. Waving the plate to the serpent, she spoke in the most amicable tone she could muster. “Do...do you want some fish?”

The serpent’s eyes widened as it silently expressed its answer.

Kana managed a nervous smile as she tossed a piece of her fish to the creature, who snapped it up in a single bite. His confidence restored, Yu took a piece and tossed it as well, with a similar result. The Radiant Swords watched on with pride as their children took turns feeding the serpent, until there was nothing left on the plate. After it had finished feeding, the serpent expressed its gratitude by lowering its head to their level, making a contented purring sound.

Laughing happily upon seeing the pacified serpent, Yu and Kana ran up to it and hesitantly reached out to it. The creature had no objections to what they were about to do, and let the children pat its nose.

The Radiant Swords sighed contentedly as their hunch was proved right in front of their eyes. Even though this creature looked menacing, and was countless times larger than the two young children patting it, it was no less gentle than anything else in this world.

However, Yuki sensed some movement in the corner of her eyes. She nudged Ken, who turned towards it and squinted. The water seemed to be rippling around that area, almost like something else was approaching them.

_This might be a problem._

Yu and Kana had just finished petting the serpent when they turned to their left - only for their jaws to drop again in surprise. The creature that had just surfaced was another colossal sea serpent - except this time, it was covered in a layer of rubbery, jet-black skin in place of scales. A row of spines, more silver than a full moon and long enough to skewer either of them with space to spare, jutted from its back, crackling with arcs of pale blue lightning. A pair of golden, glowing eyes glared at the other serpent as the newcomer reared back and let loose an ear-splitting roar, revealing a maw full of massive teeth that looked sharp enough to rend air itself.

In that moment, Ken suddenly recalled something he had read from Sophia’s books. That dark creature was a predatory hunter of the sea that used a combination of raw strength, lethal bites, and overpowering electric shocks to hunt its prey. And that green serpent...well, that was one of its prey.

But the green serpent wasn’t a pushover. It, too, was a predator - one that crushed foes with its coils or blasted them to shreds with pressurized water blasts. According to the book, these two creatures would fight on sight, but in almost all of the accounts neither of them had been able to claim victory.

But that still meant a fight was about to happen.

Turning towards its enemy, the turquoise sea serpent seemed to take a deep breath before blasting out a gigantic stream of water. The blast struck the other creature squarely in the jaw, causing it to reel back in pain. However, it immediately retaliated with a barrage of lightning from its spines. Electrical javelins perforated the water’s surface, one of which struck its target and caused it to screech angrily.

The boat rocked and swayed precariously as the titanic predators shot towards each other, engaging in a close-quarters melee using their teeth and coils. As enormous waves threatened to capsize their boat right then and there, Yuki wasted no time running to the wheel, trying to steer the boat away from them. As she created a burst of wind to send them away from the commotion, she noticed that Yu and Kana were standing at the very edge of the boat, looking on in terror.

“Yu! Kana! It’s not safe there! Please come back here!” Yuki yelled. “We’ve got to get out of here, staying in a fight between those two is dangerous!”

Kana looked like she was in a daze. “That serpent’s in trouble!”

Yu grit his teeth, drawing his sword and willing to to glow bright blue. “We just befriended it! We’ve got to do something to help it!”

Ken realized what they were on to and decided to intervene before things got messy. Placing a hand on each of his children’s shoulders, he thought about how to explain this to them. “Yu, Kana...we can’t really interfere with this. I know you just became friends with that green serpent, but this is their business. We don’t really have a right to meddle with it.”

“But...what if it dies?” Yu sputtered. “We could save it! We can fight!”

“But that would be upsetting the way nature works.” Ken told him, as a blast of lightning soared over their heads and threatened to disintegrate their sails. “Every living being has to eat. And as much as it leaves a sour taste in my mouth when I say it, there are some creatures that aren’t as advanced as us. Those not fortunate enough to be able to grow and farm their food...well, they have to hunt. That’s just the way the world works, and I’d rather we not try and mess with that. That electric creature deserves food just as much as anything else, after all.”

Yu seemed to struggle with the idea, but eventually nodded and sheathed his blade. Kana slowly took her hand off her sword hilt and stepped back.

“If it helps you a bit,” Ken went on, “Fights between these two creatures rarely have a loser. It’s more likely than not that both of them will leave with their lives.”

Yu perked up. “Really? Well...that’s relieving to know, then.”

So, as the two serpents brawled it out, Yuki navigated the ship around the tumultuous waters. Soon, they were headed back towards their destination, the fighting predators left in the backs of their minds.

 

“Ah...it’s so pretty!”

Those were the first words out of Kana Hoshizora’s mouth when the family got to the beach. It was a fairly plain beach - just an expanse of beige sand with a rocky cliff to its left. However, it wasn’t too difficult to impress someone as carefree as Kana or Yu.

Their boots crunching through the sand, the two children ran up to the water and ran their fingers through it, laughing at the cool sensation. Ken walked up to the water as well, and picked up a smooth, flat rock. Looking at Yuki with the stone in hand, he recalled something. “Hey, remember when we came to this beach the first time? We tried skipping stones together, right?”

Yuki laughed. “Yeah, and I destroyed you!”

Ken’s cheery smile was replaced by a competitive smirk. “That was years ago. Care to try me again?”

“Bring it!”

As the two of them started aiming and bouncing stones along the water surface, Yu and Kana laughed as they used their magic to construct a grand sand castle. When an approaching wave threatened to wash it away, Yu panicked and unleashed a magical pulse so violent that the wave was blasted into mist.

By the time the sandcastle had been built, Ken and Yuki had come back from their stone-skipping. And judging from Yuki’s smug grin and Ken’s begrudging smile, Yuki had once again bested him.

“Kids, you’ve just been on the beach this whole time.” Yuki said. “Don’t you want to go play in the water?”

Kana laughed. “Oh! Uh...I guess we just forgot. Sounds fun, though!”

And before their parents could object, both of them leapt into the water. Clothes, weapons and all.

The Radiant Swords were surprised at their enthusiasm, but laughed and joined them. Soon, the four of them were splashing around, spraying each other with water and altogether enjoying the sunny day. The play session ended up becoming a full-on, magically-powered water war, and despite the constant dousings they received, all four of them loved it to bits.

The watery chaos lasted for about an hour. At the end of it all, the four of them were tired and soaked, but also happy. They rested on the beach for about an hour, before getting back onto the sailboat and preparing to head home.

 

The sun was setting by the time the happy family neared the shores of Electi Terram. It was Ken’s turn to steer the ship, and Yuki was in the middle of a curious conversation with her kids.

Yu laughed. “Wait, so our names don’t really mean anything?”

“Well, that’s not true.” Yuki explained. “When we were born, Tobias was the one who chose our names, solely because he thought they sounded cool and had cool meanings. He was an interesting man, for sure. But when we named you two, we didn’t really need to do things like that. We just chose names that we thought sounded nice - in Japanese for old times sake - but Ken had insisted that they began with the same letters as our names. So here we are.”

“I think you chose really nice names for us!” Kana chirped. “Thank you!”

Yuki smiled sheepishly. “Aw, it was nothing.”

Yu, however, was still curious. “But do our names actually mean anything?”

“We didn’t intend it, but they probably still do.” Yuki told him. “We can look it up when we get home. I’m sure either one of our books or Sophia’s books can tell you that.”

Ken gazed at the setting sun. “Hmm...this brings back good memories. Yuki, remember the last time we came home on a boat like this, during the sunset?”

Yuki laughed. “I might forget the date, but I’ll never forget that experience. That was the day we proposed to each other.”

Yu and Kana perked up. “Huh?”

Their mother smiled at them. “Oh - I forgot, we never showed you that! Mitama taught me a bit of that memory projection thing she can do, so I can show you that moment!”

Drawing a rectangle in the air, the Nebulous Angels crowded around it as it began to glow. Inside the space, they saw their younger parents sitting next to each other, on a hill in front of the sunset-bathed temple at Electi Terram. It seemed that the two of them were making small talk, but there was no sound in the memory.

Yet their eyes glowered with a certain light whenever they looked at each other, a warm light that showed their boundless faith in one another. The two of them hadn’t been married yet at this point, but their dedication to each other was clear as day.

Eventually, the two of them got up and began slowly walking away from each other, talking all the while. Ken’s face was hidden as he nervously fiddled with a small black box. Behind him, Yuki was shaking as she grasped an identical one.

Words were exchanged between the two, but both of them seemed too nervous to act - and justifiably so. Yu and Kana could almost hear what their parents would have been saying at this point - probably things about how much they meant to each other.

Then, in the vision, the Radiant Swords spoke in unison. The kids couldn’t hear what they said, but they read the words off of their lips.

_I want to stay by your side forever._

And the pair closed their eyes and turned around, presenting the boxes to each other. Simultaneously, they got on one knee and opened them, revealing simple silver rings inside the boxes.

The two of them opened their eyes and stared at each other in shock. Then, grins started to grow on their faces as tears of joy came to their eyes. Abandoning the rings on the ground, the soon-to-be-couple rushed at one other and embraced each other in the most emotional hug the Nebulous Angels had ever seen.

As the vision ended, Kana sighed. “That was so sweet.”

Yuki stretched out on her chair. “Heh...I’ll never forget that experience. Years before that happened, me and Ken made a promise to stick together until the very end. On that day, all we did was take one more step to ensure we could keep that promise.”

Ken smiled. “And now...well, we couldn’t be happier. We can stay together, with all our friends and family. And of course...we can take care of you two. You two are the best kids we could have ever asked for, and taking care of you brings joy to our lives.”

The Nebulous Angels couldn’t help but shed tears of joy at those words, running towards their parents with gratitude. Ken and Yuki opened their arms in anticipation, and the family shared a heartfelt hug amidst the sunset-lit sea.

 

_Turns out the Nebulous Angels’ names didn’t mean anything in particular. But they didn’t mind. They still thought their names were cool._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had that stupid "Homer fishes with a bug zapper" scene stuck in my mind for the entirety of this chapter's writing.
> 
> Yu's full name actually has some kind of meaning (something along the lines of "starlit evening") but I could not find any meaning to Kana's full name for the life of me. Feels bad.
> 
> As much as my friend DA830 had wanted me to introduce the sea serpent with "S U P , B I G B O !", I decided against it. It was tempting, though.
> 
> (nobody's going to get this)


	8. Cosmic Firmament

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bit of a shorter chapter this time around.

Yu gave a decisive shout as he swung his sword upwards, swiftly sending the blade of his opponent careening into the air. As the weapon clattered to the ground, the older boy he was facing backed up and admitted defeat.

Next to her brother, Kana unleashed a flourishing series of slashes to whittle away at her adversary’s defenses. Eventually, she found an opening and lunged, knocking her opponent’s shortsword to the ground.

The Radiant Swords watched on in approval as the two teams bowed to each other respectfully. The two of them had decided to take their kids on a bit of a trip to their hometown of Yume, just for old times sake. Just as they had showed their kids their old houses and the fountain they used to always duel in front of, they had been greeted by none other than their longtime friends, Lucas and Stacey Chen. After a heartfelt reunion, their kids had expressed a desire to duel with them upon hearing that their parents had done that all the time during their youth. So here they were, duelling Lucas and Stacey just as their parents had done so many years before - and, much to their delight, they had won quite soundly.

Oh, yeah - the Radiant Swords had almost forgotten that they had also come here to test one of Sophia’s theories on long-distance telepathy. And apparently it was a success, because Sophia’s voice now spoke in their minds. “Can you two hear me?”

Ken tapped his ear as if to activate an earpiece, only to realize he didn’t have one. Sighing, he just imagined himself speaking in his mind. “Yeah. Looks like you were right. It’s a bit quiet, though.”

“Same here.” Yuki’s voice said in his mind. “Mission successful.”

Back at her house halfway across the world, Sophia smiled. The connection from this had only been sustained through her powerful magic, and even then the magic was still a work in progress. In her kitchen, her father Magnus ambled around, making cups of coffee using the experimental coffee maker she had lying around.

Sophia spoke again. “I’ll work on it. Oh, by the way, did you know that there’s an aurora scheduled to happen today? Somewhere up near the northern part of the planet.”

“Oh, that’s cool!” Yuki told her. “But...uh, why are you telling us this? We’re nowhere near that part of the planet…”

Sophia smiled. “Can you, by any chance, breathe in the outer atmosphere?”

Ken’s eyes widened. “Ah...I see what you mean. If I remember correctly, we actually can - at least, judging from that one time we got taken off the planet. I think our magic has improved enough to fly us there while insulating us..”

“Excellent. I’ll be trying that later today as well.” Sophia told them mentally. She cringed as she heard something burst into flames outside, followed by an alarmed shout from Xander as Magnus rushed outside to help. “Uh, excuse me for a bit. I’m going to have to go take care of the Galantes before they burn down my house with their cooking.”

“Uh, why are the Galantes at your house?” Yuki asked.

No response.

Ken just shrugged and went off to tell their kids the news. Surely they would love an opportunity to view their planet from the edge of the atmosphere. Even though the Radiant Swords had only ever seen that sight once in their lives, they knew it was an experience definitely worth seeing.

 

_ Several hours later... _

Yu and Kana grit their teeth as their celestial wings launched them through the clouds. Below them, their parents shot upwards with considerably less difficulty - they  _ were  _ older and stronger, after all. Even with their combined magic shielding them, it was still quite the task for a ten-year-old and eleven-year old to fly through the atmosphere.

Kana gasped for air as the atmosphere began to thin around them. Yu closed his eyes and tried to press onwards.

“Come on, guys!” Yuki told them. “We’re almost there!”

Ken also offered his encouragement. “You can do it!”

The flight of the Nebulous Angels devolved into short bursts rather than sustained lift. Yu and Kana took deep, rapid breaths as they pushed themselves harder. Their parents were beginning to wonder if their kids really weren’t up to the task - but at the sight of the doubt in their parents’ eyes, the Nebulous Angels gained a bit of resolve. Blazing with magical light, the two of them shot into the heavens with renewed vigor. Impressed by this, the Radiant Swords followed.

By the time the kids had reached the outer layers of the atmosphere, they were tired, sweaty, and just about to faint. As their flight faltered momentarily, their parents swooped under them and caught them in their arms.

“Ha...ha…” Yu breathed. “Did we...do well?”

Ken just smiled at him. “You were fantastic, Yu. I’m very proud.”

“Thank...you…”

Kana just smiled tiredly.

The four of them looked around them and beheld a sight that took whatever breath they had left away. Beneath them was none other than their home planet, a vibrant sphere flourishing with color and life. Above them was the vast expanse of outer space, an empty void dotted with countless stars. The sun’s brilliant light blazed behind them, illuminating the vast planet they called home.

Yuki pointed excitedly in the distance, where rolling waves of green light could be seen. Just as Sophia had said, auroras were now flickering into existence near the northmost parts of Territe - and due to their altitude, they could see them despite being halfway across the world. While the view of the aurorae would likely never match the view from the ground below, the family was still grateful to be able to see it.

“It’s...so beautiful.” Yu mumbled. “And not just the aurorae. The planet from this high up is so, so beautiful.”

Kana seconded that. “I can see so much from up here. And all of it makes me feel so happy to live here.”

Ken smiled. “We’re all grateful for the world we live in. We are truly privileged to be able to live on such a wonderful planet.”

“Like I said...I wouldn’t trade this planet for any other one.” Kana breathed. “A world like this can’t be replaced. Just looking at it, I feel like cherishing and protecting it.”

Yu gazed at the void of space. “But the universe out there sure is huge, huh? There are infinite possibilities out there. It’s a bit hard to imagine.”

Yuki made a motion as if to reach out to the stars. “We know that all too well. The universe is a truly massive vault of untold possibilities. But for now...this planet is enough, isn’t it?”

Her son laughed. “For sure it is. It might be tiny in the universe, or even to things like humans. But it’s more than big enough for everyone here to enjoy.”

“I know it’s unrealistic.” Kana said wistfully, “But I wish that this planet stays this way forever and ever.”

“Hey, Kana.” Ken told her. “No matter if it’s realistic or not, it’s never bad to make wishes like that.“

“For now,” Yuki went on. “Let’s just hope that this planet lasts for as close to forever as possible. Okay?”

The Nebulous Angels nodded. “Okay.”

Ken squinted at the fading aurorae. “Looks like they didn’t last that long. If you want, we can go back down now. I know the thinner air is hard on you two.”

“Nah.” Yu told him. “Let’s spend a bit longer up here. It’s very nice.”

So, for the next hour, the family floated high up in the atmosphere, simply admiring their home from above.

Truly, they were a privileged species.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Inspired by a video we watched in science class - specifically, the one where Felix Baumgartner jumped from the stratosphere and parachuted to Earth again. The planet from that high up is quite the sight, even if I'll only ever see it from pictures and videos.
> 
> This is likely the last chapter I'll write for this. I've got another story in the same series that I would like to start.


End file.
